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Sffti. a7s7'V

V 5

THE,RIGHTWAY
TO DOWRONG^

AN EXPOSE OF
SUCCESSFUL CRIMINALS

HARRY HOUDINI

Published by

/ HARRY HOUDINI

BOSTON, MASS.U&A.
1906

S<r^/lrjfj^7^iy

' -^cc ^9:l /' y

hAnV«^».U COUEGE L/BRARY

FROM

THE BEQUEST OF

EVERT JANSEN WENDELL

1918

Illustrated by Henry Grossman Grover
Printed by The Barta Press, Boston

/ji(>

rworo •* *. rLtMiMtt, cnicaoo

HARRY HOUDINI

n ■ I i] I if

PREFACE

O would the deed were good I
For now the Devi]^ that told me I did weHi
Says tha^t thia deed ta chronicled in li^W 1

HERE is an under world — a world of cheat
and crime — a world whose highest good is
successful evasion of the laws of the land.

You who live your life in placid respecta-
bility know but little of the real life of the
denizens of this world. The daily records of
the police courts, the startling disclosures of fraud
and swindle in newspaper stories are about all the
public know of this world of crime. Of the real thoughts
and feelings of the criminal, of the terrible fascination which
binds him to his nefarious career, of the thousands — yea,
tens of thousands — of undiscovered crimes and unpunished
criminals, you know but little.

The object of this book is twofold: First, to safeguard
the public against the practises of the criminal classes by
exposing their various tricks and explaining the adroit
methods by which they seek to defraud. *« Knowledge is
power " is an old saying. I might paraphrase it in this case
by saying knowledge is safety. I wish to put the public on
its guard, so that honest folks may be able to detect and.
protect themselves from the dishonest, who labor under the
false impression that it is easier to live dishonestly than to
thrive by honest means.

In the second place, I trust this book will afford entertain-
ing, as well as instructive reading, and that the facts and
experiences, the exposes and explanations here set forth

4 Preface

may serve to interest you» as well as put you in a position
where you will be less liable to fall a victim.

The material contained in this book has been collected by
me personally during many years of my active professional
life. It has been my good fortune to meet personally and
converse with the chiefs of police and the most famous de-
tectives in all the great cities of the world. To these gentle-
men I am indebted for many amusing and instructive inci-
dents hitherto unknown to the world.

The work of collecting and arranging this material and
writing the different chapters has occupied many a leisure
hour. My only wish is that **The Right Way to Do
Wrong *• may amuse and entertain my readers and place the
unwary on their guard. If my humble efforts in collecting
and writing these facts shall accomplish this purpose, I shall
be amply repaid, and feel that my labor has not been in vain.

HARRY HOUDINI,

Handcuff King and Jail Breaker.

THX FOX, THE GREATEST
. THIEF IN THE WORLD

•Shot One ,
*^ Shot Two .
*» Shot Three
*^ Shot Four .

• Shot Five .
*^ Shot Six .
*^ Shot Seven
•Shot Eight.
•Shot Nine .

• Shot Ten .

• Shot Eleven
•Shot Twelve

• Shot Thirteen

• Shot Fourteen

• Shot Fifteen .

• Shot Sixteen ,

• Shot Seventeen

• Shot Eighteen

• Shot Nineteen
•Shot Twenty .

. Income of a Criminal

• Professional Burglary

. . Difficulties of Burglary

• Burglars* Superstitions

. Thieves and Their Tricks

. The Aristocrat of Thievery

. Pickpockets at Work

• Beggars and Dead Beats

• Begging Letter Swindles
. Tricks of Bunco Men

. The Game of Wits

. Fake I Fakel Fake I

. Bogus Treasures

• Famous Swindles

. The Fair Criminal

. The " Brace " Game

• Cheating Uncle Sam

• Humbugs
. About Myself

• Conclusion

SHOT ONE

, . , J;> >..

INCOMEOFA
CRIMINAL

V *

^EOPLE of respectability* and inexperience,

'who have no knowledge of the criminal classes,
usually imagine that every criminal is a hard-
ened villain, incapable of even the ordinary
feelings of family affectionj and that of neces-
sity the professional crook, thief, or burglar is
uneducated and ignorant.
In fact, nothing could be more remote from the truth. Do
you see that well-dressed, respectable-looking man glancing
over the editorial page of the Sun ? You would be surprised
to know that he is a professional burglar and that he has a
loving wife and a family of children who little know the
<* business " which takes him away for many days and nights
at a time \

You meet a grave and benevolent-looking gentleman on a
railway train ; perhaps he shares your seat and interests you
by his brilliant and intelligent conversation. You little
suspect that he is at the head of a gang of the most expert
bank burglars in the country 1

As a matter of fact, some of the brightest brains and keen-
est minds belong to professional criminals. They live by
their wits and must needs keep those wits sharp and active.
Not that I would have you think that all professional criminals
go about in the guise of gentlemen. There are all grades of
culture and lack of culture in the various nefarious callings
of crime. The sneak thief and the burglar may and often
does look the **hard citizen" he is; but you will never find
him lacking in a certain kind of quick wits and a certain kind

The Right Way to Do Wrong

of brain power. So highly organ-
ized is the machinery of the
law and police protection in our
modern civilization that one of
the first requisites for success as
a professional criminal is brains.

Dobs It Pay to Commit
Crime ?

This is a question I have often
asked the chiefs of police arid
great detectives of every country
in the world. How great are the
money rewards of evil doing?
Does a *' good" burglar have an
income equal to that of a bank
president? Can a pickpocket
make more money than the
fashionable tailor who makes the
pockets? Is a gambler better
paid than a governor? Can a
shoplifter make more money than
the saleswoman? In fact, does
it pay to be a criminal, and, if
so, how great is the reward for evil doing?

I am aware that it is the general impression, considered
simply as a matter of profits, that the professional criminal is
well paid. He gets something for nothing ; therefore you
would say at a first glance that he must be rolling in wealth.
Many people who get their ideas of criminals from novels
and story papers, for instance, imagine a gambler as a man
who always has a roll of bills in his pocket bi^; enough to
choke a horse, as they say. No doubt, also, the histories of
sensational coups as reported in the daily press are chiefly
responsible for this false impression. But such colossal frauds
and robberies are rarely the work of professional criminals.
They are usually perpetrated by men whose previous good

HOLD-UP MEN AT WORK

Income of a Criminal

character has placed them in positions of trust. Men who
have led honest lives, when temptation came along and
on paper they figured out that they could not lose -^-^ why, they
stole and fell — into the clutches of the law. Disgraced, they
arc ruined for life, often ruining all their family. It is a
terrible thing to have the finger of fate point at you with the
remark, ** His father is serving time for doing so and so," or
*« Her brother is now in his sixteenth year, and comes out in
five years."

Such humble criminals as the area sneak thief, the porch
and hallway thieves, and the ordinary shoplifter may be
dismissed with a few words; their gains are miserably
small, they live in abject poverty, and after detection (for
sooner or later they are detected) they end their lives in the
workhouse 1

** If I could earn $5 a'week honest, I'd gladly give up < drag-
ging' [shoplifting]," said a thief of this type to a New York
detective ; «* but I can't stand regular work, never could ; it's
so much easier to * prig ' things." No avarice, but simple
laziness keeps these thieves dishonest.

More lucrative are the
callings of the counter thief,
the pickpocket, and the
<« buzzer" or watch thief.
Of those the pickpocket
wins the largest returns.
A purse hunter who knows
his work would think he
had wasted his time if he did
not make $5 on an evening
stroll. Race meetings and
fairs may brin^ him in $100
to $150 a day, but an aver-
age day's makings amount
to only $8 to $12.

The passing of bad
money, as everyone knows.

'Ai

:/">■.

' v>

Sir^^

AT THE pistol's MUZZLE

lo The Right Way to Do Wrong

who is behind the scenes in criminal life, is a very poorly
paid •• industry/* while the punishment risked is heavy. In
England the ** snide pitchers" or ** shovers of the queer," as
they were called, used to buy the counterfeit coins at so much
a dozen, and, working in pairs, pass them out in shops.

Highwaymen, robbers, and hold-up men sometimes make
big hauls, but their careers are short. Into their brutal hands
pass many a diamond pin or ring, many a gold chain, worth
$20 or $25, even at melting-pot prices of some dishonest
goldsmith. Happily for society, these ruffians are speedily
brought to book and their ill-gotten gains are dearly earned.
There is a thieves* proverb which runs, ** A six months' run
and the hook (thief) is done." The garrote and hold-up
men have far shorter lease of liberty and frequently fall into
the clutches of the law within a day or two after release from
prison.

Both burglars and confidence men may make big coups
occasionally, but their income is precarious. The burglar is
at the mercy of the ** fence," as the receiver of stolen goods
is called, and realizes only a small part of the actual value of
his pelf. I suppose a burglar would be considered very
successful if he made $3,000 a year actual profit. The
"fence "has much larger opportunities and his voracity is
well known. A detective friend was well acquainted with
one who made as much as $5,000 a year for several years
and finally shot himself to avoid arrest. Another "fence"
actually amassed a fortune, but his wealth did not prevent him
from dying miserably in prison.

The truth is, that a life of dishonesty may pay at first when
you are not known to the police, but when an offender once
falls into the hands of the ever-watchful police he begins to
be a well-known customer. He now pays dearer and dearer
every time he is brought up for trial. His brief spells of
liberty are spent in committing some crime that once again
brings him back to the prison, so when you figure out the
sentences he has to serve, why, his honest gains are con-
temptible compared to such awful penalties.

Income of a Criminal 1 1

As this book is not a history of crime or criminals, to
those wishing to read positive facts of great criminals, and
all of them have either died in the poorhouse or are yet
counting the weary days in prison cells, divorced from wife,
from children, and from all ties that human beings hold so
dear, I can safely call attention to the book called **Our
Rival the Rascal 1 " written by my friend Chief Inspector
of Police, Wm. B. Watts, of Boston, Mass. This book is
the greatest book on the subject that I have ever seen. I
happened to have a copy with me in Berlin, when the royal
police, hearing that I had the book in the country, asked me
as a favor to allow them to make extracts and photograph
some of the famous criminals in the book.

This I allowed them to do and in return they handed me
several photos of well-known criminals to send to Chief
Inspector, Wm. B. Watts. In order to put a finish to this
chapter, it can be said that IT DOES NOT PAY TO LEAD
A DISHONEST LIFE, and to those who read this book,
although it will inform them **The Right Way to -Do
Wrong," all I have to say is one word and that is " DON'T.**

** Yus, my poor brother had no eddication, and it wur his
linl"

** How was that?"
** He forged a name on a check, an' the spellin* wur bad."

SHOT TWO

PROFESSIONAL
BURGLARY

HE professional burglar is a man of re-
sources and daring. He has usually had a
long training in criminal pursuits. A good,
burglar is a man who knows how to keep his
own counsel and is very careful how he tells
his plans to any one else.
If the same amount of ability and talent that many a crim-
inal exercises to become a professional burglar were applied
to an honest pursuit, he would gain wealth and fame ; but
once started in the path of crime it is difficult to turn aside.

The burglar who makes the breaking into houses a pro-
fession is held by the fascination of the danger and the re-
wards of his pursuit. The consciousness that he is able to
accomplish the almost impossible, to plan and bring off coups
which fill the newspapers with flare headings, is as much a
matter of pride to him as high attainments in an honorable
profession are to another man.

Planning a Bold Break. When a burglar starts out on a
job he does not do it haphazardly. He carcf\illy sclectfl a
house in a favorable location, occupied by a family who are
known to have valuable possessions worth taking away. The
retired location of the house, the ease of access, every ap-
proach and every avenue of escape if detected are carefully
studied. Then he goes about acquainting himself with the
habits of the people who occupy the house. He soon knows
when they come. and go, how the doors are fastened, how
the windows are secured. Perhaps he ingratiates himself by

Professional Burglary

^^^ ing

thi

A SOURCE OF INFORMATION

marked attention to the
of the kitchen, and so
^^^^irns the inside workings of the
ousehold. Usually this is ac-'
complished by the aid of a con-
federate or member of the gang
to which he belongs, and if he can
induce the cooperation of some
servant his work is made so much
the easier.

At length the night of the bur-
glary arrives. The date has been
carefully set. You may be sure
that there is not a full moon to
illuminate the grounds, as he has
consulted the almanac. If there
IS a watch-dog, the burglar carries
ample means to quiet him, in the
shape of a small bottle of. chloro-
form. Accompanied by his pal (for most of these burglars
work in pairs) they rapidly effect their entrance in accord-
ance with their plan. Usually one man is stationed outside,
to give warning by means of a peculiar whistle or other
sound in case detection is to be feared.

How the burglar overcomes all the obstacles of his en-
trance into the house will be treated later, but to a profes-
sional cracksman the ordinary locks of doors, the ordinary
window fastenings and safety arrangements which the house-
holder attends to so carefully every night offer but little
or no obstacle. When the time comes for him to enter, he
enters as quietly and quickly as though he were the mas-
ter himself — in fact, very much more quietly. Once inside,
his glimmering electric dark lantern, which can be hooded
in an instant, gives him sufficient light to move with noiseless
rubber-soled shoes to the different apartments. The abso-
lute silence in which a professional cracksman can go
through a house, avoiding creaking doors, and escaping

14 The Right Way to Do Wrong

every loose board which may betray his presence is aston
ing. Many a householder has awakened in the morning
find his house rifled who would deem it impossible for ai
one to enter his house, much less his room, without immea.
ately arousing him.

To show how carefully a burglar plans for the ** crack-
ing** of some specially desirable ** crib," one ex-convict de-
clares that he has often expended large sums of money in
making the preliminary arrangements for some great coup.
If a burglar should happen to be caught in the house-break-
ing act, it is fairly important that he should not be recog-
nized afterwards; so most professional burglars are very
careful to provide themselves with a disguise when out on
their *• work." One reformed criminal told Inspector Byrnes
that he had several times been seen by people while entering
houses, but they had never once been able to recognize him
afterwards. His simple plan he described as follows: **I
always wore a specially made wig, with false side-whiskers
and moustache of the best quality. My wardrobe was ex-
tensive, and contained reversible coats and reversible trou-
sers, after the style used by quick-change artists on the stage.
With the aid of these, I have been able to make a complete
change of appearance in less than two minutes." It is easy
to see how rogues take more pains to perpetrate robberies
than honest men do to get a living.

The Burglar Who Walked Backward. A London
burglar, who served a long sentence, told the chaplain of the
prison the following amusing story of one of his experi-
ences: ** One of the toughest pieces of work I undertook
was a big jewelry shop in the Seven Sisters Road, one Jan-
uary night. It was a *put up*]ob> — that is, the business
came to me through one of the brokers who supply burglars
with places for likely hauls, and receive in return a large
commission. The jewelry store in this case was protected
by iron shutters, not easy to open from the street, but valu-
able goods were supposed to be left over night in the window.

" I approached the crib down a narrow entry to the rear,

Professional Burglary ' ^S *

and along this I walked backward, for the ground wa^
covered with snow, and any tracks going forward would
attract the next policeman who should pass/ I continued on
this crab-like progress until under the shutter of the rear
window. This I got through without difficulty, but was con-
fronted by a door leading into the passage, which was locked.
On attempting to force it with a jimmy, the door fell together
with its case with a tremendous crash. I need not say I
made myself scarce in a jiffy, and hid behind a shed in the
yard. Strange to say, nothing happened. No one seemed
to have heard the terrible racket. I re-entered, and, climb-
ing to the top of the stairs, found a heavy trap-door fastened
with a massive bolt. This gave way after a special treat-
ment, and in the big sitting-room, by the glimmer of my
tiny dark lantern, I found a few watches. The door leading
into the shop was fastened with a mortise lock, and it was
necessary to cut the box out. Much to my disgust, I found
the show-window absolutely empty. In ransacking the
place, I came across a small iron safe which, with a vast deal
of trouble, I dragged into the basement, where I set to work
with my safe-opening tools, feeling sure I should find my
plunder, but again I was disappointed, for the safe was
empty." (Almost all English safes are key-locked, not
combination as in America.)

** Where was the stuff? Clearly the jeweler had some
hiding-place. I resolved not to get *cold feet' on this job,
so went back to make a systematic search. Outside the old
. couple's bedroom, I listened carefully. All was quiet. I
entered as silently as a shadow, and found the old jeweler
and his wife sleeping soundly. A revolver was on the chair
by his bedside. I have always considered the practise of
keeping revolvers about the house most dangerous, especially
to casual night visitors, so I pocketed this one, gathered up
the loose money, two gold watches, and, turning, found ar-
ranged along the wall, the rods of jewelry and watches from
the shop window. I selected as many as my pockets would
hold,' and cautiously made my way downstairs again. .Upon

KdH^'^afiMtaMfei

t^^^jimmmmam^tm

The Right Way to Do Wrong

leaving the house, I walked backward again through the
snoWy and almost collided with the milkman just starting on
his rounds.

** * You have a very remarkable way of walking,* he said.

***Oh,' I replied, *it is an agreeable change after the
monotony of always walking forward ; but in the daytime I
cannot practise it, owing to the remarks of foolish people
who will not mind their own business.*

** He seemed to enter into the joke, but no sooner had we
reached the road, than he shouted, • Police 1 ' and • Stop
thief 1 ' for all he was worth.

** I had a good start, however, and two hours later a Hox-
ton * fence * received a considerable addition to his store of
valuables concealed under the floor
of his bedroom."

The question has often been asked
how burglars get away with their
booty, especially when it makes, as
it often does, a bulky bundle. The
police are apt to be suspicious of
people who carry bundles in the
small hours of the night, and ask
inconvenient questions. If any one
doubts this, let him try the experi-
ment of going out between two and
three in the morning, carrying a
bag heavily loaded with bricks.
He will not proceed many yards
without being pounced upon by a
" cop." A story in point is told by
an ex-convict to a well-known de-
tective. "I had a pal with me, and
we broke into the country palace
of one of the wealthiest dukes in
England. The ^^^iW

silver-plate we .^ -«k£^*^

got nllea two ^.^^ burglar who walked backward

.Ill liiii n'rirn--]-^

iiHi'dlililiiriii

•ft'iil-iHiiiiiffiitfiriii

Professional Burglary

bags. We had just dragged the sacks into the thicket near
the house when the alarm was raised. Think of the tight place
we were in, — two o'clock in the morning, and a policeman
every thirty yards all around the grounds, every road guarded
and every path. Safe enough inside the ring we were, but
when daylight came, what would happen? Still the next day
dawned, and no trace was found either of the plunder, or of
us, and by evening of that same day, it was all melted and
sold to the * fence * in the city. The police were utterly baffled
as to how the perpetrators of the robbery got away with two
sacks full of plate. No one had passed the cordon of police
except a couple of countrymen from the home farm, who
were driving a cart to market, containing a slaughtered sheep.
Now I might tell the , police something that would interest
them. If they had turned that sheep over, they would have
found, instead of the usual bodily organs, that the carcass con-
tained a valuable collection of silver, and if they had looked
under the straw, they might have found the rest of the
duke's missing prop-

erty."

The Second' Story
Man. The profes-
sionjal burglar of
standing in his pro-
fession looks down
somewhat with con-
descension upon the
second-story burglar,
whose risks are not
nearly so great, and
whose rewards, of
course, are propor-
tionately smaller.
The second-story
man avoids breaking
and entering a house.
His fort is obtaining

BURGLARS IN HIDING

i8 The Right Way to Do Wrong

an entrance by means of convenient porches, over-hanging
boughs of trees, water-conductors, and lightning-rods, up
which he climbs with the greatest ease, and enters through
an unguarded window in that part of the house where he has
planned to make his robbery.

Many successful second-story men work only in the day-
time, and are prepared with all sorts of plausible excuses to
explain their presence if detected in a house. A burglar en-
gaged in going through the premises after jewels known to
be in the house may, in a second's time, assume all the ap-
pearance and actions of the honest workman come to repair
the plumbing, and by his clever effrontry, escape even after
he is detected. Usually, however, the second-story man so
plans and times his work as to enter the house when most of
the family are absent, and thus avoid the risk of detection.

Ordinary Criminal

The ordinary criminars hand has a peculiarly rough
shape, the thumb being very plump and short, while the
fingers are uneven and heavy. The small finger is turned
inward, and bluntness is the hand's chief characteristic.

SHOT THREE

DIFFICULTIES
of BURGLARY

VERY man who lives by his wits and defies
the law of the land must confront difficulties
unknown to the ordinary citizen. In the first
^ place, the house must be entered, locks must be
forced and picked, burglar-alarms must be cir-
cumvented, and every effort made to escape
detection. Most people who carry a loaded re-
volver, or have one in their bed-chamber, think that they are
protected. As a matter of fact, a burglar finds the least of
his danger at the muzzle of a pistol. In the hands of the
excited and frightened citizen who awakes in the middle
of the night to find his house being robbed, a revolver
is not especially dangerous. Of course, the burglar is
likely to get a bullet, but the citizen seems quite as
apt to shoot himself or some member of his family as he
is a burglar.

Nor do ordinary burglar-alarms present any great diffi-
culty to the expert cracksman. If he knows his busi-
ness, he has found out beforehand all about these pretty
little toys, where they are located, how they are handled,
etc. His first care, of course, is to cut the wires or
by other means known to him make the burglar-alarm
harmless and noiseless. Once silent, he may proceed to
pick all the locks in the house, and clad in the darkness,
and the garment of silence which every burglar knows
how to assume, he soon gets away with his ill-gotten
plunder.

20 The Right Way to Do Wrong

A pet dog may make an able-bodied burglar more trouble
on a midnight expedition than half a dozen pistols or shot-
guns in the house. These little animals are certainly light
sleepers and their bark, while harmless, is very apt to arose
every inmate in the place. If the burglar is expert, he has
probably cultivated the acquaintance of the dog in advance
when he paid court to the kitchen girl at the back door, and
a little bottle of chloroform, judiciously placed, puts the dog
to sleep very quietly.'

The window-bars which are supposed to be such a protec-
tion to basement windows also call for remark. They are
usually set from four to six inches apart, and are then of
very little use, for a miniature screw-jack is made for the
profession which will force these bars sufficiently wide apart
to allow a thin man to enter.

When going away for the holidays, it is a. great mistake to
shut up the house. This is simply to make public announce-
ment that the place is unoccupied and may be entered with
safety. The wiser plan is to make it look as much occupied
as possible and to give notice to the police that you are going
away. The next-door neighbors — if you know them to be
-»tirnTIWg,^^ above suspicion — should also

'lUB^^S-^fy^"^ ^^ '■" '^ ''^ be warned.

®^-Vds^?^^""^" ^ '^^^ question is often asked,

i4v4,T^V^^ "^ ^iy-,iiS where is the safest place to

%''' '- T^^''^'Sifl keep one's valuables? My

tWC^i I Tlfcifill^tSl^ advice is to keep them at your

fjg;iv:^^|■ ^^-, j ^ ■P lfl, banker's; but if it' is really

necessary to have them in the
house, then the best place is
the least likely one.

One communicative burglar
gave us two pathetic instances
of wasted labor and disap-
pointment that had befallen
him. One night he went
OPENING A WINDOW through a saddler's premises

Difficulties of Burglarly 21

with extraordinary care, but without result, owing to the fact
— which subsequently leaked out — that the cash was kept
in an old saddle I

The other case was that of a wealthy merchant's house,
which was visited in pursuit of cash and securities. None
could be found, though the house was thoroughly ransacked.
It was afterwards found that they were concealed in a
dummy book placed among the volumes in one of the library
bookcases.

It is not altogether the wisest plan to keep one's valuables
in the bedroom, for the simple reason that a determined
burglar, who has learnt their whereabouts, will not hesitate
to visit the bedroom, in which case it is very possible that
the occupant will not wake up next morning.

I shall conclude this chapter with some account of burglar-
proof appliances, as described by Mr. Herbert Howard, a
writer in the London magazines, as follows :

Burglars Laugh at Locks. The holiday season is the
harvest of the enterprising burglar and the dark days of the
late autumn and winter provide a happy hunting-ground for
the professional housebreaker.

The need, then, for securely guarding the house against
uninvited visitors is one that appeals forcibly to every one
who values his own goods and chattels, and is willing to
take a little trouble to protect them. The hints given in the
present article are the result of a long experience of a very
practical character.

If any man knows better than another the relative value of
the various modes of protecting a house, it is the professional
burglar 1 He smiles at the futility of many a massive lock
and bolt, while, on the other hand, he grinds his teeth with
rage as he thinks of certain simple contrivances that have
defeated his nefarious designs.

The weakest point about a house is usually a window,
and for that reason it is one of the most convenient modes of
entry for the burglar. The ordinary window-catch is the
most foolish contrivance possible, and must have been

22 The Right Way to Do Wrong

invented by somebody who wanted to break in with as little
trouble as possible. You have merely to insert a thin putty
knife between the sashes and the catch can be pushed back
without much difficulty. An attempt is sometimes made to
prevent this by the insertion of a screw or other contrivance
behind the catch, so that it will not slide back. In this case
the judicious use of a jimmy, or crowbar, under the bottom
sash will simply force out the screws — always very slight
affairs — by which the catch is fastened to the window, and
thus the difficulty is overcome without any noise or trouble.

The only really secure mode of fastening a window is by
means of strong thumb-screws passing through both sash
frames on either, side. These screws should work through
metal plates let into the sashes. These screws, if properly
placed, will resist the application of the crowbar, and, as they
are quite inaccessible from the outside of the window, they
can only be tampered with by removing the panes of glass.

The door next calls for attention. Usually it is fastened
during the day by a light latch, which yields at once to a
very mild amount of pressure with a jimmy. For purposes
of protection this latch is utterly worthless. The large old-
fashioned lock, especially if mortised into the door, is much
better. Certainly it can be forced, but only with great diffi-
culty, and it is apt to make a noise like the report of a pistol
when it gives way. The best plan, from the burglar's point
of view, is to attack the door-post and try to force out the
socket into which the bolt of the lock shoots.

Locks used frequently to be picked, and skeleton keys
were much in vogue in by-gone days. Now, however,
locks have been so greatly improved that they are seldom
picked, unless cheap locks are used.

Ordinary door-bolts present no difficulty to the burglar who
has his tools with him. They are quickly forced out, screws
and all, or they are silently cut through with a saw of
diamond steel.

Chains are the best of all fastenings for doors. They are
difficult to cut or force, and they are apt to rattle and make

Difficulties of Burglary

a noise, which is the thing of all others that a
burglar dreads most. The presence of the loose
chain is not usually discovered until the locks
and bolts have been forced, and the first indica-
tion of it is generally an audible one. The
business of cutting a chain is a troublesome and
risky one, owing to the difficulty of keeping it
still. There is a special tool for the purpose,
but it is not much used.

A glass-panelled. door, especially if it has no shutters, is a
thing of delight to the intruder, who can only too easily
remove the glass and so get access to the locks and bolts.
A letter slot without a box is also a helpful contrivance, as it
enables him to insert a strong wire loop with which to pull
back the latch.

The best way to secure the house door is to provide it with
a chain at the extreme top and bottom, in addition to one or
two thumb-screws passing through the door into the frame.
This will effectually defy the best efforts of the burglar,
unless he is prepared to cut out the framework of the door —
a long and risky job.

The ordinary window shutters are quite useless, both, on*
account of their weak construction and of the primitive
simplicity of the usual fastening, which can be undone with-
out any trouble. Iron shutters are, however, a good pro-
tection, but only when fastened by screws in the way we
have described.

Inner doors, especially of* rooms that contain valuables,
should always be locked at night. But the key must be
taken away I Many people have the idea that by leaving
the key in the lock — of course on the inside of the door —
they are making it impossible for the lock to be picked from
the outside. As a matter of fact they are simply
putting the key into the burglar's hands.

Examine the average door at the hotels and
you will find that when the key is in the lock,
the end of the barrel slightly projects from the

24 The Right way to Do Wrong

keyhole on the other side of the door. Now the burglar
has in his tool-bag a neat little instrument, resembling in
shape a very small piano key, with which he is able to grip
the projecting end of the barrel, and so turn the key around
and unlock the door I

The best of all fastenings for the bedroom or other inner
door is a simple wedge of wood pushed under the bottom of
the door. If this is correctly shaped and properly placed,
it is absolutely impossible to open the door from the outside
without cutting a piece out of the panel, and no burglar will
risk this with a person sleeping near at hand.

It is, however, sometimes practicable to pass a knife or
other article under the door, and so push the wedge back.
To prevent this it is only necessary to place some obstacle in
the way. A strong screw passed into the floor will serve,
especially if it passes through a hole in the wedge.

Burglara have no hesitation in poisoning small dogs when
they are in the way of their getting out an especially
valuable haul. Sometimes this is done by feeding poison
meat through the letter slot, while dogs kept in kennels out-
side are practically useless for protection, as they may be
easily disposed of. If your watch-dog suddenly dies under
suspicious circumstances, look out for a burglary within the
next few nights.

Several cases have been' known where policemen have
taken- up the profession of burglary and escaped detection
for many years. They yielded to the temptation for gain and
fell. I would say, however, on behalf of the police, that
cases are known where crooks have gained positions on the
police force in order to forward nefarious and nocturnal work
of burglary.

VisrroR (in jail) : Do you never hear the still, small
voice of conscience?

Convict : No ; I'm hard of hearing.

SHOT FOUR

•• "'?««.V

-BBRfilftfiS^^Ji

^^^^'^ ' ~

OME people imagine that a burglar is forever
on the still hunt for plunder; that the breaking
into houses forms a nightly part of his pro-
gram, and that he would be a lonesome in-
dividual unless he had a dark lantern in one
hand and a jimmy in the other. The truth of the
matter is that professional burglars rarely make
more than eight or ten good hauls in the course of a season,
and that to be out on more than one job inside of a week or
ten days would be considered rather dangerous. Of course,
there are cases where gangs of burglars are working certain
sections of the city where a number of startling robberies are
committed one after another, but your careful and successful
cracksman limits his work and increases his safety.

The burglar, no doubt, may be a quiet citizen, a house-
holder himself, and one known as a respectable man to his
neighbors, and when occasionally he disappears for a week
or a fortnight, it is attributed to business in a distant city.
His ** business" brings him in another rich haul, and when
that is disposed of he is on ** Easy " street again until incli-
nation or necessity compels him to go forth in quest of other
plunder.

Sailors are superstitious, but burglars share that
honor with them, for there is no class of individ-
uals who look more carefully to signs of good |

and evil omen than does your professional ** crib
cracker." An ex-convict whom I once befriended^
in Omaha, and from other sources, I learned the

26 The Right Way to Do Wrong

following most common superstitions of thieves and burglars.
A black cat is a certain forerunner of disaster to the burglar,
and householders who suddenly find their black cats poisoned
may take it as a warning that the robbery of their domain
has been decided upon, for the criminals take care to destroy
their dumb enemies before paying a midnight call. Dogs,
on the contrary, they fear but little, however savage they
may be, because they take care to carry in their pockets
pieces of ivory, a certain cure for dog-bites.

The cries of an infant warn the marauder that misfortune
awaits him in the neighborhood. He will not stay in a house
if he finds a clock stopped, a broken mirror, or an unframed
oil painting ; these are infallible omens of disaster.

One of the chief terrors of the burglar is a newly-painted
house. Several years ago in a northern town, some disciples
of the jimmy broke into a large domicile, but removed nothing,
though they favored the next house with a visit the same
evening and stole everything of value. They were captured
as they were scaling the garden wall, and at the trial one
confessed that they had spent eight weeks in making prepa-
rations for entering the house from which they removed
nothing, and upon doing so found it to have been freshly
painted, so transferred their attention to the adjoining build-
ing, thereby bringing about their capture.

A criminal studies the weather quite as carefully as the
farmer does. He will not perpetrate a crime on the night of
a new moon, nor if the orb has a halo or mist round it.
And were he to plunder a house during an eclipse, he might
as soon give himself up to the law at once, for his days out-
side of prison walls would be numbered. Even more trifling
incidents are of equal significance to tKe robber.
It is bad luck to be followed by a dog, and
any undertaking or plundering plan will be
abandoned for the time, as it means capture or
failure.

If the house selected has crape on the door, to
• enter would be to court disaster, and to kick

Burglars' Superstitions.

against a piece of coal in the road would bring about a
similar result.

Pickpockets are very careful not to rob a cross-eyed or
club-footed person. To rob a blind man would be to bring,
down misfortune ; but, curiously enough, a blind woman can
be victimized with impunity. A stolen purse that contains a
battered coin or lock of hair is thrown away intact, or the
thief will find himself a prisoner before the day is out.

Talismans are freely carried and implicitly believed in.
Burglars in the olden days used to rob a house by the light
of a candle made of human fat; but the superstition has
nearly died out, owing to the difficulty of procuring material
to make them, although it is still prevalent to some extent in
Scotland and Ireland. When Burke and Hare were murder-
ing human beings for the medical profession in Scotland, in
1828, it is claimed they also supplied human fat to burglars,
the doctors giving Hare a few bottles, as they were told it
was a good cure for rheumatism. The medicos treated it as
a joke, but Hare sold it to some of the housebreakers he was
intimate with. Old nails, broken horseshoes, curiously
shaped pebbles, and endless other trinkets have times with-
out number been found in the pockets of captured crimi-
nals who have begged that every-
thing else they possessed should f?\-
be taken from them rather than ^^^J
the talisman to which they
pinned their faith. Charles Peace
— perhaps the greatest burglar ^•ti^^V/v
who ever lived •'.,.,.

IT IS BAD LUCK TO BK FOLLOWED BY A DOG

28 The Right Way to Do Wrong

success was due to the pawn-ticket of a violin he pawned
when he was a boy» and which he always carried with him.

Safe-Cracking

Our chapter on burglary would scarcely be complete with-
out some reference to safe-cracking as a special division of
the profession. It is a comparatively small matter to break
and enter a house and get away with valuables ; but to effect
an entrance into a well-guarded bank and succeed in open-
ing safes which have been constructed with every appliance
known to the modern safe-builders' art is an entirely different
proposition. The •• cracking " of such a •• crib " is the work
of an experienced and especially skilful man.

My friend James Sargent, of Sargent & Greenleaf,
Rochester, N. Y.> invented the time-lock. Cracksmen would
rout the cashier out of his bed with a loaded revolver, and
force him to go to the bank and open the safe. But now
with the time-lock and other safety electrical safeguards the
old burglar tools are worthless ; where once tools were used
in cutting off locks, tearing off plates, drilling through the
lock so as to pick the combination, the cracksman has kept
apace of the times and utilizes modern scientific methods to
open safes. To open a time-lock they first start in and by
hammering the safe break the clock-work. Now they re-
sort to either a large carbon and get their electricity by
tapping the trolley-car current and burning circles around
the lock, or they rniake use of a terrible compound invented
by Goldschmidt (a man I met in Essen Ruhr, Germany).
This compound is named **///^rwi/V." This is a kind of a
mixture of fine aluminum filings or powder and iron oxide.

When this mixture is ignited by suitable means, it gives
the extraordinary heat of 3000** C. This compound or
concoction, if allowed to flow on top of a safe, will
BURN A HOLE clear through most any safe made. I was
in Berlin when the first tests were made, and one enterprising
safe manufacturer built a safe that was invulnerable to this
immense heat, and calls it the "Anti-Thermit" Geldschrank.

Burglars' Superstitions

CRACKING A SAF£ WITH A GRIPPK&

Burglary is no longer crude
robbing, but an art. The only
men who are able successfully
to overcome the obstacles of
the safemakers and locksmiths,
and at the same time avoid the
police, are the ones who em-
ploy as much care and thought
in their work as the successful
business man. The man who
once turned to burglary as a
last resort chose a dark night
to force his way into a store,
and after hours of work with
files and saws forced the door from the safe, can no longer
succeed. The only men who succeed in their efforts to open
safes now are the ones who often spend weeks studying con-
ditions and preparing their instruments. The resistance
offered by the fine grades of steel used in safes usually
destroys the tools used to open the locks.

The ingenuity of the safe-cracker is greater only than that
of the burglar and sneak thief who depends on the use of
skeleton keys and jimmies to make his way past locks and
bolts. The skeleton key can only be used in picking simple
locks with wards. The burglar's jimmy is often a plain iron
bar, sharpened at one end that permits its insertion beneath a
window or at the side of a door. Some of the professional
burglars, however, carry sectional jimmies that for efficiency
are greater than any other burglar tool manufactured.

Safe burglars often purchase old safes and practice on
them. Now-a-days they work almost entirely on the lock.
The method is first to remove the dial with a special jimmy
and then drill a small hole five-eighths of an inch above the
spindle, and with a knitting needle or fine wire ** pick up"
the combination and thus open the safe.

SHOT FIVE

THIEVES and

THEIR TRICKS

■73^

<::a

THIEF is one who
appropriates any

kind of property or money to his own use
without the consent of the owner. As distin-
guished from a burglar, a thief does not break
into a house or enter in the night time, but
takes his plunder wherever he can find it. A
thief may gain entrance to a house and steal a valuable
diamond, but he uses his sharp wits to pass the door instead
of the burglars' jimmy and skeleton keys.

There are thieves of various kinds, from the common sneak
thief and shoplifter to the expert pickpocket and clever
swindler, who sometimes makes hauls amounting to many
thousands of dollars. The use of the word «* thief," however,
is generally confined to such classes of criminals as shop-
lifters, pickpockets, and the like. Overcoat thieves ply their
trade in the residential sections of the city. They will
sometimes ring the front doorbell and ask for the master or
mistress of the house, giving some plausible pretext, and
usually the name of the party living there. While the
servant has gone to tell the mistress of the caller, he quietly
picks up what garments are in sight on the hat-rack and
makes off with them.

The Venetian blind thief got his name from the practise
of -the English thieves of making the pretext that they had
come to repair the blinds of the house. A thief will call at
the door claiming to be a mechanic to look ove/ the house for
necessary repairs, and in his rounds will gather up any valu-

Thieves and Their Tricks 31

able article that he can lay his hands on. This class of
rascal even impersonates the plumber or the gas inspector

. with equally successful results.

Thieves at church are a very common occurrence, A
case is related in London not long ago where a chapel had
been furnished with one hundred new Bibles, They were
first used at the afternoon service, and when the congregation
gathered for evening they had all disappeared. A very
common experience of church officers is to find that books
disappear gradually; not only books, but hassocks and
cushions are taken from houses of worship. Petty robberies
from the collection box are not infrequent. In some local-
ities the custom of covering one's offering with one's hand
so that other worshipers shall not see the amount given
gives the thief his opportunity, for in the rapid passing of the
plate it is easy for the skilful professional thief to put in a
penny and at the same moment take out a dollar. This is
sometimes done by a sticky substance put upon a single
finger. Umbrella thieves and pickpockets also ply their
trade in church as well as in other places of public gathering.
How can you detect a church thief ? is a question I have
often asked detectives. There seems to be no real answer ; but,
as a general rule, it is just as well to look out for your property
as carefully when you are in church as when you are out.

Thieves as Wedding Guests. There is scarcely a fashion-
able wedding where the contracting parties are wealthy that
does not suffer from the presence of wedding thieves. For
this reason, the more expensive .tems of jewelry are often
imitated in paste before they are ^ut on exhibition among the
gifts, while the originals are sent to the bank. The wedding-
gift lifter works his game as follows : Disguised as a trades-
man or assistant, he gains the confidence of the servants, gets
a description of a diamond tiara, or other article of great
value, which he then has a duplicate made of set with imita-
tion paste diamonds. He will even go as far as to pay $15 or

. $100 for a good imitation article. Armed with this and

ti^ perfectly dressed, he makes his way among the party of

•32

The Right Way to Do Wrong

THE VAN THIEF AT WORK

guests and finds it
no great risk to
adroitly change the
counterfeit for the
genuine jewel.

Trick of the Van
Thief. Vans that
are covered entirely
with tarpaulin or
canvas and have a
loose back present oppK)rtunities to the van thief. A favorite
trick is for the thief to wheel a hand cart, covered with
sacking, under which a confederate lies concealed, behind one
of these vans. The confederate quickly puts the upper
part of his body inside the van, his feet remaining in the
cart. Being concealed from view by the loose tarpaulin, he
seizes a package, dropping back with it into the cart, which is
pushed off at once. A wet day is preferred for this trick,
as then not so many people
are about, and the driver
is likely to be holding
his head down as a pro-
tection from the rain, in
consequence of which he
will not look behind.

The Trick Satchel
Thieves. It is when the
dark days come round that
the railway-station thief
most safely conducts his
operations. The summer
tourist he loves not, for
his luggage contains few
valuables, and there is
then too much light
about. A dull afternoon
and well-to-do people . the trick satchel

Thieves and Their Tricks

going off by train are what the platform prowler asks for.
And here is shown as a warning, if needs be, an artful
appliance that station thieves have used of late years. . It
looks like an ordinary portmanteau; and so it is with a
difference.

It is a specially-made portmanteau, the bottom of which
closes up on pressure being applied. Thus, when, as shown
in the illustration, the ** trick" portmanteau is placed over a
smaller one that lies upon the platform, the larger one comes
down as a cover over it. By a movement of the thumb of
the hand that holds the portmanteau handle, powerful springs
are released which tightly grasp the portmanteau that is
inside, and it can thus be carried away completely enveloped
from sight.

If, therefore, you see a suspicious-looking character hang-
ing about, don't set him down as a genuine passenger just
because he has a bag.

Diamond in a Chew of Gum.

One of the cleverest and most unscrupulous diamond
thieves I ever heard of perfected a scheme for daylight
robbery of unmounted gems which for a time simply defied
detectives of London and Paris. The game was played as
follows :

A lady, well dressed and looking like a respectable and
wealthy matron who might be the wife of a banker or large
merchant, enters a jewelry store and asks to see some
unmounted diamonds.
The clerk shows her the -<^i^ '^*^-

stones, and while she is
looking at them, a second
lady equally respectable
in appearance enters and
approaches the same
counter. She seems to
.be interested in diamonds.
^Suddenly one of the most the chewing gum trick

34 The Right Way to Do Wrong

valuable gems is missing. The proprietor is summoned, the
detectives rush in, and an officer is called. The women, who
both declare their innocence, are carefully searched, but the
diamond has absolutely disappeared. Eventually both the
women are released, but the diamond is never recovered.

The way the trick was played is this :

One of the women (both of whom are members of the
gang) deftly concealed the diamond in a piece of chewing
gum and sticks it on the under side of the front edge of the
counter*

There it remains safely hidden away while the frantic *
search is going on. A third member of the gang slips in
afterward with the crowd of curious and removes the gum
containing the diamond and makes off with it.

Said the fond mother: •• Never would I call a boy of
mine • Alias ' if I had a hundred to name. Men by that
name is alius cuttin' up capers. Here's Alias Thompson,
Alias Williams, Alias the Night Hawk — all been took up
for stealing."

Teacher : How many of my scholars can remember the
longest sentence they ever read?

Billy : Please, mum, I can.

Teacher: What? Is there only one? Well, William,
you may toll the real o£ the scholurs the longest sentence you
ever read.

Billy : Imprisonment for life.

SHOT SIX

TheARISTOCRAT
of THIEVERY

■' - i - i V'" - » | - . l i , ^ Jfir^ i /p ji'm i- I

HERE are kings of crime as well as kings
of finance* Much the same talent which
enables John D. Rockefeller to pile up a
thousand million doUars or Henry H,
Rogers to control unnumbered millions in
Wall Street^ applied in a di^erent direction , de-
velops that high grade of criminal whose rob-
beries are exploited in scare-head stories in newspapers, and
are the talk of the country for many days. The case which
occurred at Liverpool a short time ago was the work of a
bright man. The circumstances related to me by a news-
paper man are as follows: ** One day Messrs. Oldfield &
Co., of Liverpool, received a telegram purporting to come
from Mrs. Brattlebank, of Garston, then staying in London,
ordering a quantity of diamonds to be sent to her Garston
residence. Mrs. Brattlebank being a wealthy customer and
well known to. this jewelry house, a package of valuable
stones was made up and sent by registered post, after being
insured for $5,000.

After the arrival of the package in Garston, a well-dressed
gentleman representing himself to be Mr. Laing Miller, a
wealthy South African ship owner and a friend of the
Brattlebanks, called at the residence, having previously ex-
plained by telephone that he was coming to take the pack-,
age to Mrs. Brattlebank in London. The whole alTalr
seemed so open and aboveboard, and the appearance of Mr.
ivfiller so honest and convincing, that the valuable package
'vas handed over to him without question. Neither Mr.
^( ss

36 The Right Way to Do Wrong

Miller, who is now suspected to be one of the most expert
confidence men in the Kingdom, nor the diamonds have
ever been seen since."

The Swindler Who Lowered a Check. The crime of rais-
ing a check is often attempted, and sometimes successfully, but
it is seldom that a criminal attempts to lower the figures on a
check and cash it for a less sum than it was made out for.
The following incident occurred in Wall Street not long ago,
showing that the man who conceived it must have had a
ready wit and a clever brain, as well as considerable daring
to put it into execution. It is said that this ingenious swindler
had already realized between two and three thousand dollars
by his startling new method of lowering checks.

For instance, a stock exchange broker sells one thousand
shares of a stock to ten customers in blocks of one hundred
shares at 91. Each purchaser prepares a check for $9,100
for the seller when the messenger boys make their rounds.
If the checks are not ready when the messenger calls out to
the cashier, who usually cannot see the boy, he is told to
come back later.

This swindler follows a messenger boy, and when the
boy is told to return later the fellow returns himself in a
short time and gets the check, which is readily handed over
to him.

Having secured the check for $9,100 flie swindler hurries
away, and, knowing that safety does not lie in presenting
the check for so large an amount, reduces it to $910, makes
it payable to bearer by the use of chemicals, and secures the
money.

A Daring Train Robbery. Among the clever coups that
have come to my attention here is one related by an ex-con- '
vict, and published recently in an English periodical which
presents some rather interesting features. The writer says :
" A certain lady of high social position was known to possess
an exceptionally valuable collection of jewelry, and some of Y
us had long been casting covetous eyes upon it. One daj /
she started from St. Pancras in the Scotch express for he (

The Aristocrat of Thievery

husband's seat in the Highlands, the jewelry being securely
packed in one of her numerous trunks. These were duly
placed in the luggage van, which was locked, and only opened
by the guard at the two or three places where the express
stopped. No one save the railway servants entered the van or
left it, neither had the doors been opened while the train was
in motion. But when the trunk in question was unlocked far
away in Scotland, the jewel case was gone, and from that
day to this not the slightest clue has been found as to its dis-
appearance. Here was a case for a Sherlock Holmes or a
Martin Hewitt, but either these gentlemen were not forth-
coming, or they totally failed to solve what is, perhaps, the
most mysterious railway robbery of recent days.

**Let me lift the veil and show how the little job was
worked. Two men, both of whom are still making a very
comfortable income as railway thieves, got to know of the
lady's proposed journey, and discovered the train by which
she intended to travel. Accordingly, they also traveled
north by that train, though they did not go as far as Scotland.
On the contrary, they only booked to Leeds. Their luggage
consisted of two portmanteaus and a massive wooden trunk,
strongly hooped and padlocked. It was an honest, straight-
forward-looking trunk, but any one who examined it very

THB TRUNK "TRICK ROBBRRY *

38 The Right Way to Do Wrong

closely might have discovered a quantity of small holes in its
sides, practically concealed by the iron hoops, between
which and the woodwork there was at intervals a slight
space. That trunk did not contain the large assortment of
wearing apparel that might have been supposed ; in fact, it
only contained one suit of clothes, and that suit encased the
limbs of a boy of fourteen I

*• As soon as the train was well on its journey, one end of
the trunk opened, and the small boy emerged. With the
aid of a goodly stock of •skeleton keys and pick-locks — the
English hamper locks can be opened with a button-hook,
they are so simple — he opened the various hampers bearing
her ladyship's name, and presently discovered the jewel case,
which he removed to his own box. He then locked up the
trunks, returned to his hiding-place, closed the sliding panel,
curled himself up comfortably in the box, and went to sleep
for the rest of the journey.

** At Leeds the two men alighted, called a porter, who got
their luggage out of the van for them, and then drove in a
cab to a certain temperance hotel in Briggate, where, in the
privacy of the room they had secured, the boy was let out of
the box, and the jewel case gleefully examined. Its con-
tents traveled back to London by the next train, and were
safely on the continent before the news of the robbery had
reached Scotland Yard."

A Check /or $jo^ooo. A single ••plant" on a Chicago
bank was pulled off recently, whereby the clever swindler
coppered out $30,000 for himself with very little effort. The
bank officers tried to hush the matter up as much as possible,
and for the sake of the depositors I shall not give the name
of the institution, but the facts which I am certain are sub-
stantially as follows : A depositor of several years' standing
appeared a few days ago in the bank president's office with
a draft on London for £6,000, which was perfectly good. /
The depositor informed the president he desired to deposit (
this London draft, and at the same time to check against it,
presenting his check for $30,000 for the president to O. K.I ,

The Aristocrat of Thievery 39

The latter put his initials on it and thought no more of the
transaction. The depositor then went out into the bank and
deposited his London draft, and on the following day pre-
sented a check for $30,000, which was paid, the teller know-
ing that that amount was to his credit on the books. Later
in the day he again appeared at the window and presented
the check for $30,000, which had been initialed by the presi-
dent. This check was also paid. Nothing more has since
been seen of the depositor.

Embezzler's Wife: You are a thief and a criminal.
Never speak to me again 1

Embezzler : But I stole it all for your sake.

Embezzler's Wife : Yes, but didn't you go and give it
all back again? — Cincinnati Commercial- Tribune.

** What did that man do to make himself so famous?**
asked the inquirer, gazing curiously at an individual who
formed the center of a social group.

** To the best of my knowledge," replied the cynic, " he
did the public."

SHQT.'^EVEN

^ ' ■::-<m^^

PICKPOCKETS
aiWORK

MOKG the most interestiRg classes of thieves
IS the pickpocket, whose clever subterfuges
and skill of hand have been so often exploited
in novel and story-book, Yoor professional
pickpocket is naturally a rover, and travels the
country over^ attending large gatherings. Of
professional pickpockets there are a number of
types, each adapted to the class of **work" in which he
engages.

It is the usual opinion that a pickpocket is a forbidding
and suspicious looking fellow, but a glance at the rogues'
gallery in any police headquarters will show you that they
look much like ordinary individuals, and are of more than
average intelligence. The pickpocket is usually very well
dressed and of prepossessing appearance. Those who seek
to make only large hauls are entertaining talkers and easy
in their manner. They are generally self-possessed and,
while dexterous, are very cautious in their operations.

It is needless to say that women make the most patient as
well as the most dangerous pickpockets. It is simply amazing
how quickly an expert pickpocket, with a delicate touch, seem-
ingly accidental, will locate the resting-place of a well-filled
purse or other article of value which he chooses to abstract.
When once discovered they follow their intended victims until
the proper opportunity comes. A common pickpocket trick
is for the operator to carry a shawl or overcoat carelessly
over the left arm, and to take a seat on the right side of the
person they intend to rob in a street-car or other vehicle.

Pickpockets at Work

-^^^i^:

THE FEMALE PICKPOCKET

Sometimes a small and very sharp
knife is used to cut the side of the
dress or pantaloons of the victim,
so that the purse may be abstracted
^yithout going into the pocket di-
rectly. Others of this light-fin-
gered gentry wear light overcoats
with large pockets removed. They
will endeavor to stand near a per-
son, preferably a woman, who is
paying her fare and has displayed
a well-filled purse. The pickpocket
then carelessly throws his coat over
her dress, and by inserting his
hand through the outside opening
of his own pocket, quietly proceeds
to abstract her purse. Pickpockets either work alone or in
pairs, or what is called a mob. Most female pickpockets
seem to prefer to work alone, sometimes, however, working
in conjunction with a man thief to whom they pass their
plunder, and thus make detection impossible if they are
suspected and searched.

The mob is a gang of expert pickpockets under the direc-
tion of a leader who has had experience, and knows all the
tricks. Their usual game is to frequent some crowded plat-
form or a railway station, and raise an apparent row in
which two men seem to engage in a scuffle or quarrel and
come to blows. Others rush in attempting to separate them,
and the attention of the whole crowd of people is for the
moment directed strongly that way. At the same moment
other single light-fingered miembers of the same gang crowd
in with the citizens who are being jostled, and abstract their
pocketbooks and watches without any trouble. Recently a
gang has successfully worked in several of the subway sta-
tions in Boston, and the same gang has successfully plyed
this vocation in New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

The false-arm game, or the ** third mit," as it is known

42 The Right Way to Do Wrong

to the professional pickpocket, is said to be little employed in
this country now. A loose cape overcoat is worn in one
of the sleeves of which a false arm and hand are fixed.
Thus a detective who may be watching the pickpocket will
see apparently both of his hands in view, while in reality the
light skilful fingers of the operator's left hand are going
through the pockets of the man beside of whom he is stand-
ing. This dodge is very much employed on the continent
by shoplifters.

One of the many fertile dodges by which a pickpocket
escapes detection is known as the horse-dodge. The thief
so arranges as to meet his victim by the side of a horse stand-
ing by the curbstone. He has previously located the watch
or purse he wishes to lift, and with a quick blow he knocks
his victim's hat over his eyes, grabs the pocketbook or watch
or whatever else he is after, and immediately darts under the
horse, and hides himself in the traffic on the other side. By
the time the victim has got the use of his eyes, and is able to
look around, the thief has entirely disappeared, and he
would not be apt to look in the right direction, at any rate.

In the outskirts of London, among the small shops, a
rather unusual trick has been played frequently upon un-
suspecting shopkeepers. Two men in earnest argument
over some matter enter a small grocery store and approach
the proprietor who is behind his till. One man says to the
proprietor, ** My friend and I have gottten into an argument
over a peculiar matter which we believe you cian settle for
us. I have bet him that my hat," taking off an old-fashioned
stove-pipe hat, ** will hold more than four quarts of molasses,
while he contends that it will hold hardly three quarts. We
are willing to buy the molasses if you will fill this hat and
prove the question to decide the bet." The shopkeeper
good-humoredly agrees, and brings the hat brimful with
sticky molasses, at which one of the thieves
slaps it over the shopkeeper's head, and be-
fore he can extricate himself and call help
they have robbed the till and disappeared.

SHOT EIGHT

o « o

BEGGARS and
DEAD BEA'

^ HERE probably is not a reader of this book

„ ^^^^^ . , who has not frequently been accosted on the

■ j^^^ j 1 \ street corners by the poorly-dressed, shivering

f^iii wretch who asks in a whining voice for a coin

*^" or two to get him a night's lodging.

Who has not experienced the mingled feeling
of repugnance and pity which their stories are
intended to produce? Who has not, rather than nin the
chance of turning away an honest
man in real distress, put his hand in
his pocket and dropped a dime or a
quarter into grimy, outstretched fin-
gers and went on his way more than
half convinced that he had paid money
to a fraud.

Beggars there have been since civ-
ilization created the distinctions of
wealth and poverty and must needs be
till a higher, better civilization makes
misery and crime impossible or un-
necessary. For ages the mendicant
has flourished, plying his vocation on
the credulous and making profit out
of the fact that humanity and religion
make almsgiving a virtue. In the
Middle Ages beggars became so nu-
merous that they threatened to overrun
the continent. The begging *• friars '*

CHIBP OP A BBOOAK OANO

The Right Way to Do Wrong

and other religious orders encouraged it and the beggars
throve. To-day the modern law in most lands forbids beg-
ging, but still most people would be surprised to know to
what extent it is practised, — that is, to what lengths and in
what numbers the fraudulent cheating professional beggar
preys upon the alms-giving, over-credulous public.

I have watched the beggars of most of the great cities of
America and Europe, and have made some little investiga-
tion into their methods, and I do not hesitate to say that in
ninety cases out of a hundred the man who asks for alms on
the street corner is a cheat and a fraud. If the public would
take my advice and absolutely refrain from giving to beg-
gars, this nuisance might soon be done away with. If the
beggar no longer found his calling profitable, he would soon
go to work or seek other fields of activity.

As a rule, the beggars we see upon our streets belong to
well-organized gangs and their in-
dividual members are controlled by a
chief whose word is law. For simple
begging the territory is laid out and
each man keeps within his own beat.
At night they assemble at some cheap
lodging-house, where each one turns
over his day's ** takings " to the leader,
who acts as treasurer and even often
deposits a fund in the bank to be used
in emergencies or for bail money. A
certain portion of the income for the
day is divided each night among all
members, either equally or in certain
shares agreed upon. It is said that a
leader or treasurer is always faithful to
his trust, for if he were to appropriate
the money, he would at once be barred
out of the ** United Order of American
Beggars" or ««Sons of Rest," and
« KID "JOHNSON blacklisted all over the country.

Beggars and Dead Beats 45

Sometimes the leaders will take in young boys and train
;hem in the art of deceiving the public. Chief Watts tells
)ne such story of a young man known as ** Kid" Johnson,
m orphan boy who came under the influence of ••Frisco's
Slim," the burly leader of a gang of Boston beggars. This
/iley mendicant filled the lad's mind with stories about easy
money and showed him how he (Frisco Slim) had •• doc-
tored " his arm with a chemical to give it the appearance of
a frightful burn.

••With that arm," said Frisco, ••! collar many a dollar
every day of my life. 1*11 fix your arm in another style that'll
catch on great I "

So the mere boy was enrolled as •• Kid Johnson " and taken
to a resort known to the gang, where his arm was put in a plas-
ter cast, and he was sent out to beg on the street. His scanty
clothing was thin and ragged, his toes peeped through his
shoes, and he looked the picture of weariness and hunger.
In a short time the •• Kid" proved one of the best money-
getters of the whole gang. But his masters' demands grew
faster than his ability to bring in the coin. He was required
to bring in a certain amount each day and ill-treated if it fell
short. His life was that of a slave. He was finally rescued
I by the police and given a chance to reform and lead an hon-
I est life, but the taint of crime had entered his nature and he
I soon ran away to take to the road and street again.
I The Magic Cap, A German organist who came to St.
\ Petersburg from Orenburg on a visit to his relatives met with
3 an adventure which caused him to wonder whether he had
by accident been transported into the Mystic East and car-
ried back to the times of the Arabian Nights. The story of
his adventure might well be entitled *• The Magic Cap," and
it will be seen that it bears a strong resemblance to the
story of •• Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp."

On arriving at St. Petersburg the German visitor pur-
chased a cap, which he thought would be more comfortable
^ I. l.n his ordinary headgear for exploring the town, with
Jw'fich he was not well acquainted. On arriving home in the

4^ The Right Way to Do Wrong

{ evening after his first day's sightseeing he was greatly sur-

prised to find in the pockets of his overcoat two purses, one
of them containing over ten pounds.

He marvelled greatly at his mysterious luck, and sallied
out again next day. When he came home again he found
in his pockets several more purses, and began to feel alarmed.
When on the third day he came home with another windfall
in his pockets he became frightened. But his Teutonic com-
monsenpp wnnld not nllow him in IipII^vp Im |Ii0 u^Ibluuuu ut
magic, and he decided to have recourse to the prosaic police
force in order to elucidate the mystery.

Accordingly, he sought out the chief of police, and told

' him all the facts. The astute official examined him closely

as to the clothes he was wearing, and particularly as to the
cap he had bought in St. Petersburg, and on receiving his

• replies sent the German with a policeman to the hatter's

shop. The shopkeeper explained that the cap was of an ex-
ceptional kind. Some time ago a man had called on him
and given him a large piece of English cloth, out of which he
was to make fifteen caps of exact similarity. On concluding
this order the hatter found that he had a piece of the cloth
left over, and of this he made an extra cap, the identical one
which was sold to the German.

On the strength of this information the chief of police ar-
ranged for a detective to accompany the German on his next
day's sightseeing, and then the mystery of the ** magic
cap " was fully cleared up. Watching his charge carefully,
the detective saw various men lounge furtively up to the
German and transfer something from their hands to his
pockets. On each occasion the man thus discovered was
arrested, and in the course of two or three days, during
which the same plan was pursued, the police made prisoners
of about a dozen men. They turned out to be a gang of
pickpockets and all wore a cap of the same pattern as that
purchased by the German. Their plan was to pass on their
plunder to a confederate, for whom the German had br^^
mistaken. i

. Beggars and Dead Beats 47

1 A very favorite trick of begging-letter writers is to try
to obtain money on behalf of some bogus society in which
tiiey think the celebrity written to might be interested. The
swindler will even go so far as to get the name of a fictitious
institution printed on a number of letters, and writing as the
secretary ask for a subscription. Probably in nine cases out
of ten this will be sent without any further inquiries being
made by the recipient of the request, the printed letter-paper
btilug M»ihoUl0if»i1 rt i^itOlrtf^dt gURrrtntee hr to tlie genuinenefls
|of the appeal.

I Often professional beggars are actually men of wealth.
j,Not long ago a beggar died in New York who had eleven
jbank-books concealed about his person, with deposits amount-
ing to thousands of dollars. Beggars frequently own real
estate, stocks, and bonds. This is putting a beggar on horse-
back with a vengeance.

An actual incident of this kind was disclosed in one of our
largest cities not long ago. In a smart little villa in one of
the suburbs lived an equally smart young married couple.
Mr. Cecil Brown Smith was the name on the door-plate, and
every morning Mr. Smith went into the city, and every
evening came home. If a neighbor asked about business,
he would reply,

** Oh, pretty good, I can't complain."

So the pretty little wife was happy from morning till night
and all went well.

In the city, shuffling painfully along one of the principal
streets, a miserable object had for some time touched the
hearts (and pockets) of stockbrokers and city men. Even
the poor, almost beggars themselves, have dropped their
mite into the cigar-box full of matches which he carried in
his one hand, for he was an object of such abject misery.

One arm hung helpless by his side, his head hung with

the weakness of paralysis. His right leg ^yas paralyzed,

and he laboriously dragged it after him.

[ b^No one on earth would have supposed a connection be-

Iwl^en the crippled match-seller, always so grateful for alms,

48 The Right Way to Do Wrong

and the snug suburban home. But for some reason XvfO
disguised detectives for some hours took a close interest in
the beggar's business.

When the match-vender's ** day's work" was over, one of
the detectives followed him and witnessed an astonishing
transformation.

First, said tHe detective, the lame man dragged himself to
an adjacent tobacconist's shop, where he changed his silver
and coppers into bills. Here, too, he left the cigar-box and
the matches until the morrow, and then he boarded a car to
a cheap lodging-house, and by the time he had arrived there
his lameness had disappeared and he went up the steps two
at a time.

Finally, he went home to the smart little villa already
described. He was the gentleman who lived there with his
wife and child.

One afternoon, as the match-peddler was shuffling pain-
fully along with the cigar-box as before, Detective Number
One suddenly confronted him :

*• You're an impostor," said the detective.

** Can you prove it?" demanded the beggar.

The officer said he could, and at once arrested him for
begging. As the prisoner declared he could not walk, and
objected to the publicity of an ambulance, he was conveyed
to the police station in a cab.

In the dock at the police station, he presented the appear-
ance of an intelligent and fairly well-dressed man of twenty-
nine.

One of the most amazing features of the case was a state-
ment that Smith's wife was surprised to hear of her husband's
** goings on." She knew nothing about Smith's occupation
in the city.

Begging cards covered with the worst kind of doggerel
** poetry" are often used by beggars. Who has not at one
time or another received one like the following entitled •* The
Cripple's Appeal " ?

I Beggars and Dead Beats 49

i .

[: ^ Kind people, do not fear me,

I Or turn me from your door.

I I ask you but to hear me,

i . Or read my story o'er.

I *Tis the same old tale of hardship,

f Misfortune, and of woe,

' That others have told before me,

And youWe heard it all, I know.
From house to house in the city

This little appeal I've made,
And it's with a hope for pity

That I ask you for your aid.

Did you ever give a nickel or a dime to the person who
landed you such a card? If you did, you gave to an out-
.nd-out professional beggar. Indeed, nine times out of ten —
resj ninety-nine times out of one hundred — every coin that
^oes into the tin cup or the hand of a street beggar goes to a
craud of the worst description.

Visitor (at the gaol) : Poor, poor man 1 May I offer
you this bunch of flowers?

\ Man Behind the Bars : You've made a mistake, miss.
The feller that killed his wife and children is in the next
Cell. I'm yere for stealing a cow.

* It would be helpful to you," said the prison visitor, *« if
^ou could take some motto and try and live up to it."
I «* That's right," replied the convict ; *« I'd like to select, for
instance, * We are here to-day and gone to-morrow.* "

I i

SftOTNINE

VERY section of the country, almost every city,'
has one or more begging letter writers, who ply
their trade with greater or less success, and ex-*
ercise their arts upon the simple and credulous j
These clever rascals range all the way from
the ignorant crook that writes a pitiful story oi
want and misery, and who neither receives norj
expects more than a few dollars at a time^ to the master of ;
the craft, who goes about it like a regular business, has a }
vrell-organized office and a force of stenographers and clerks, 1
who are kept busy day in and day out sending off and re- \
ceiving mail, J

Several remarkable cases have been unearthed only lately, i
where the fake was receiving hundreds of letters daily, the {
large majority of them containing money. The post-office i
authorities, however, have been getting after this class of;
rogues very sharply of late, and any organized plundering by \
the use of the mails, is almost certain to come to an untimely 1
end sooner or later. \

If any one has reason to believe that a business of the kind
is conducted on fraudulent lines,- a complaint to one of the \
post-office inspectors in any large city will quickly bring a (
** fraud order" against the party, restraining them from use
oi the mails, and a rigid investigation follows. Then the |
game is up, and it's back to the ** tall timber" for them. It I
is a well-known fact, however, that this recourse to the ,
«* fraud order " is frequently used by unprincipled persons, out •
of spite and to obtain revenge upon those who are actually con-

1 Begging Letter Swindles 51

(ducting a legitimate business. The fraudulent advertise-
ment is often an adjunct to the bogus letter scheme, and
designed to get names to whom a special kind of letter may
be written. One of the most daring schemes of this kind
was unearthed a short time ago in New York City. A man
fitted up a suite of offices in elegant style in one of the large
office buildings. He then traveled to South Dakota, and
under the laws of that State, incorporated a stock company,
with a capitalization of five million dollars. It wa« called a
commercial and mining company. Returning to New. York,
he instructed the Press Clipping Bureau to save him the
obituary notices of all males that died in the States other than
New York — just far enough away from the center of opera-
tions to be comfortable for him.

Using these obituary notices for guides, he would- write
to the dead man, notifying him that the last payment was
due on the five hundred or one thousand shares of stock
which he had bought at fifty cents a share. He congratu-
lated the man on his foresight on investing in this stock,
as it had gone up several points, and was still rising in
value. He begged that a remittance in final payment of this
stock should be sent at once.

A beautifully engrossed certificate of stock was enclosed
in the letter to the dead man, and the inevitable result was
that the surviving relatives, thinking the departed one had
bought this stock quietly and forgotten to mention it, sent on
a check for all the way from five hundred to one hundred
dollars as requested. It was one of the prettiest schemes that
has been worked for a long time, and the actual amount of
money realized by the swindler will never
be known. Such a ** snap" could not last
long, ho\yever, and the promulgator of the
swindle was soon detected and brought to
trial.

One man advertised to sell ten yards of
good silk for twenty-five cents, and so
worded his announcement as to suggest a

/ /

52 The Right Way to Do Wrong

bankrupt sale or smuggled goods. For a time he reaped
rich harvest. Money came thick and fast. To each of hii
dupes he mailed ten yards of sewing silk I

Another rascal offered a complete and perfect sewingi
machine for one dollar. He, also, gathered in the dollars a^
a rapid rate, till Uncle Sam put a stop to his operations — he
sent his victims a common sewing needle I |

This is quite in line with the fellow who advertised a fev\^
years ago to tell a sure way of getting rid of chinch bugs for
one dollar. After the victim had sent the dollar, he received
by mail a card upon which was printed the following : —

Catch the chinch bug. Hold it by the leg^ carefully
between the thumb and forefinger. Lay its head on
the anvil, and hit it with a hammer as hard as you can.

Many of these advertisements are inserted merely to re-
ceive names and addresses of credulous people. The lists of
names are then sold or rented out to fake mail-order houses,
who proceed to circularize them.

Chain letter schemes are now declared illegal, but for
some time a number of clever dodges of this kind were
worked throughout the United States as well as on the conti-
nent. A brief description of one of these schemes will show
the character of this kind of enterprise : —

The scheme was where a trip to the Paris Exposition, with
two hundred dollars for expenses, was offered as a prize.
Each person entering the contest was required to pay thirty
cents, then send to friends two letters, requesting them to
send their names to the original promoter, and send duplicate
letters to two of their friends, the operation to be repeated
indefinitely.

Each person writing to the original promoter was to re-
ceive an offer, allowing him to start a chain on his own
account, on payment of thirty cents, the trip and money going
to the one whose chain brings out the largest number of let-
ters. The ostensible object was to secure names for employ-
ment at the exposition.

SHdT.TEN

TRICKS

of B UNCO MEN

— ■ - 1 -,iH ■; — L'. ' p.j jij ' _^ \.!^ ■■ — ^ . —

OMETHING for nothing has ever tempted
the simple and unsophisticated ; indeed, it is a
trait of human nature upon which the swindler
everywhere, and in all ages, has relied to his
profit.

The origin of the term ** bunco'* comes
from an old English game of chance in which
a checkered cloth covered with numbers and stars is covered
with a hood called a *• bunco." The game was to throw
dice which counted up to a certain concealed number. The
man who knew the game was called the ** bunco man," or
the banker, and later when this form of swindle became
notorious the term was corrupted into ** bunco." To-day
the word is used to denote almost any swindle where the
victim is made to believe he is to receive a large sum of
money or valuables, and then gets nothing at all.

The real Simon Pure Bunco Game, as practised in the
United States some years ago by Tom O'Brien, the King of
Bunco Men, was played as follows: The victim, some
wealthy farmer usually, was lured to a room at a hotel and
a game was proposed. A confederate took the part of
another player. A pack of forty-eight cards in eight sets,
each set numbered from one to six was produced, shuffled,
and dealt out eight cards to each player. The total sum of
the numbers in each hand was then compared with the num-
ber carrying a prize on the chart. If it corresponded, the
hand won the prize.

The Right Way to Do Wrong

THS BUNCO MEN AND THE VICTIM

The cards are
%^::;:^-5^ W^ ^^^ gravely counted and

compared. The dealer
then says to the con-
federate and dupe :

'•Gentlemen, you
have drawn the gran<
conditional advertising
prize. You're entitled[
to $10,000 apiece on
condition that you
prove yourselves worth
$50,000, and promise
to advertise our bat-
tery, whether you win
or lose. You will have
to put up $10,000
apiece against the
$10,000 prize ; then
you draw once more. If you draw a star number you get
only the $10,000 prize and your money back. If .you draw-
any other number you get its prize added to your own
money and the big prize."

The confederate says he is worth more than $50,000 and
declares his intention of going and getting the $10,000
stake. The dupe is also persuaded to put up the cash and
both winners go away to get the money. They return and
the money is put up. Four cards are dealt each. The
total of each hand is twenty-eight.

*« Why, gentlemen," says the bunco man in apparent sur-
prise, "twenty-eight is the * State number,' the total blank !
You have lost all 1 "

The confederate pretends to be very much broken up,
condones with his ** fellow victim" and gets him out of the
room as soon as he can. In a few moments he gives
the farmer the slip, joins his partner, and they escape from
town as quickly as possible.

Tricks of Bunco Men 55

Such IS the principle of the bunco game, and it is worked
under many guises with cards^ dice, at the pool or billiard
table — our pool-room bunco is known as ^^ selling the
lemofiy^ as bets are made on the yellow ball — but always
with the idea of making the victim believe he is going to
get something for nothing.

A variation of the bunco game, often played in the farm-
ing districts, is for a well-dressed, plausible man to drive up
to a well-to-do farmer's home and inquire if he knows of a
good farm for sale. If he does, he is invited to drive with ^
the stranger to take a look at it and give his advice. The
farmer finds his new acquaintance bright and entertaining.
The property is reached and the sharper with apparent
satisfaction inspects the land and buildings, and closes a
bargain without much haggling. In the course of conversa-
tion the man from the city flashes a big roll of bank notes of
high denomination and the farmer is duly impressed.

As they drive homeward a confederate will appear who
stops the carriage to make some inquiry. The three enter
into conversation and good-natured chaffing leads up to a
proposal of some game of cards or bet. The farmer is in-
duced to take a hand, the first swindler offering to put up his
half of the stake. When the two ** partners " — the farmer
and the first swindler — have won a large sum the loser asks
for proof of their ability to make good their stake. The first
swindler produces the cash, and the farmer drives with him
to the next town to draw his money out of the bank to ipake
good his claim.,

Now comes the rapid denouncement. The first swindler
asks the farmer to oblige him by taking charge of all the
money, including the money with, which he is to buy the
farm, until he can return and close the bargain. The
countryman, naturally pleased at this confidence, is induced
to put his own money in the same convenient tin box which
the stranger has ready. At that point the stranger and the
farmer part. The former to parts unknown, the latter with
his precious tin 4}ox under his arm, and when he gets home

56 The Right Way to Do Wrong

he finds, instead of money, that the box is
filled only with heavy folded papers to give it
the same weight. A rapid shift has been
made before his eyes without his detecting
it; his money is gone, and two adroit scoundrels are far
away.

Among the most famous (or infamous) bunco men of this
country are Tom O'Brien, mentioned above, William Ray-
mond, "Doc ** Mincheon, George Post, William Barrocks,
Lewis Ludlow, and Clay Wilson. O'Brien is serving a life
sentence for murder, but Post is supposed to be still at his
old tricks.

Jacob Sindheim, alias " Al " Wise, has a star game. His
lay is to persuade a gullible person that he has a secret
process by means of which genuine gold coins can be
•* sweated '^ or robbed of a portion of their gold, by a certain
solution, without impairing their appearance. Several times
he has induced speculative individuals without conscience,
to construct tanks in the basement of their houses and put
in from $10,000 to $20,000 in gold pieces for treatment.
Twenty days are to be required for the process. Before
that time he removes all the gold, which is needless to say
has lost not a grain of its weight, and makes his escape.
The victim, after getting* tired of waiting, opens the tank to
find a liberal deposit of paving-stones instead of gold coins.
Then he wakes up.

If men did not try and get something for nothing they
might often be able to retain that which they have.

One of the latest dodges of a bunco nature is a bogus
express company which caters to those who never receive
packages by express, but who want to. In a large room
above its showy office a force of skilled workmen are em-
ployed, manufacturing bundles and filling them with old
bricks and newspapers.

The express company, having made up a convincing-
looking parcel, sends out a postal card to its prospective
victim on which it says :

Tricks of Bunco Men 57

Mr. E. Z. Mark Steiner, 398 Jay Street :
/ Please furnish us with your address, as there is a package

addressed to you at our office.

COMEANDGO EXPRESS Co.

The fact that the express company has written to him at
his address to ask him what his address is does not strike the
victim as strange. The ** company" does it in order that it
may get in writing from Mr. Steiner a request to deliver the
package, thus making him its debtor to the extent of the
** express charges," usually $2.

** When I was once in danger from a tiger," said an old
convict, <<I tried sitting down and staring at him, as I had
no weapons."

<* How did it work? " asked his cell mate.

.<* Perfectly — the tiger didn't even offer to touch me.**

** Strange. How do you account for it?"

** Well, sometimes IVe thought it was because I sat down
on a top branch of a very tall tree."

Arrestep When Dead.

A splendid funeral procession was proceeding from Hongo,
Japan, to bury the remains of Tarofi, the head of a gambling
den, when the police stopped the ceremony as the deceased
was believed to be an escaped convict. The accusation was
found to be true, and the dead man was taken to the prison
burial-ground.

SHOit.EUEVEN

The GAME

'n '-^'"^ t'lUVti'V

of WITS

EN the corn-husk-
ing is over and the
county fairs begin

their annual three and four-day sessions in
a thousand agricultural centers, a silent
army of confidence men and swindlers
make ready for their richest harvest of the yearl The
county fairs are rich fields for their particular work, and
they intend to make the most of their opportunities.

The three-shell-game man has been a feature of such
gatherings from time immemorial. The game in some form
or other has been played ever since Rome was founded.
Three half walnut shells or metal covers are used and a small
and exceedingly lively pea made of soft rubber. The gaping
yokel is invited to pick the shell under which the " pea "
reposes. The clever manipulator tosses it from one to
another, then, with an apparent awkward twist, seems to throw
it under a certain one. The rustic backs his opinion with his
coin. The shells arc lifted. The former was mistaken and
pays for his experience.

It is only another case of where the manipulation of the
hand deceives the eye. They say that a new ** sucker" is
bom every minute. Certain it is that this old game finds
its dupes as plentiful as in the days of our grandfathers.
The callow youth of to-day is willing to bet his last cent that
he can put his finger on the shell that covers the ** pea" for
he has seen it put there I

But if the unsuspecting countryman is an easy mark for

The Game of Wits

cheats at his county fairs, he is often even more ** access-
ible " when he comes to the city. The following story copied
entire from the New York Tclcf:^rafh is especially good on
account of its breezy style and true-to-life description of the
ipethods of the quick-witted gentry. The story is entitled :

r >

Was Kind to Strangers.

** Oh, the shame of it, that S. G. Dabdoub of Jersey Gity
should journey all the way from his native heath to Boston
and there accept bad money from a stranger 1

<< Hideous circumstance I Malicious fate I If there is a
Mrs. Dabdoub, what will she say ?

** Dabdoub I The very name smacks of caution,

** But when he reached Boston and saw all the houses,
and still was gazing upon them from his point of vantage
at the railroad station, a stranger who had been peering
furtively from the dense underbrush observed him.

** After retiring behind a freight-car and throwing a
few joyous hand-springs, as if pleased at something, the
stranger muttered:

**'He will do. I have not waited in vain. To-night in
my palatial resi-
dence there shall be
joy and feasting and
seeming laughter.
Ah I it is good to
live I '

*' After this mys-
terious and ingrow-
ing conversation,
sometimes yclept
monologue, the
stranger dashed up
to Mr. Dabdoub, of
far Jersey, and said
in his panting tone

MR. DABDOUB*S ARRIVAL.

The Right Way to Do Wrong

of a man who had gone seven furlongs
under the spur of cruel circumstances :
** * Can you give me change for a
fifty dollar bill?'

** Mr, Dabdoub could, would, and did,
and the stranger, without stopping to
count the money, placed a bill in the
Jersey man's hands, expressed his thanks
in a monosyllable, and hurried away.

* • Horrors 1 The bill he left behind was
a Confederate one.

** Mr. Dabdoub, incensed, pursued, but
the stranger wore the sevenieague boots
of successful guilt, and it is unlikely that
Nick Carter could have caught him.

** Dabdoub went to the police, who
wept with him and addressed him as if
he had been a public meeting."
Here is another adroit swindle that might almost be con-
sidered better than a gold brick.

Some time ago a young fellow with a violin under his arm
entered a market-place in one of our large cities, made his
purchase, and then found himself short of money. How-
ever, he offered the fiddle as security, while he fetched the
necessary amount of cash. Scarcely had he left the place
when a well-dressed man entered and saw the fiddle on the
counter. He examined it and cried out that it was a
Stradivarius.

** Why, rU give you $300 for it," he said.
The shopkeeper refused to sell it without consulting the
owner, and the second stranger went away leaving five
dollars for the refusal of the treasure. Presently, the first
rogue returned, was informed of the offer, and said he would
agree, providing the tradesman would give him $150 down.
The victim complied, and neither of the swindlers ever
returned. The fiddle was worth about $1.50.

But don't get the idea that farmers and small shopkeepers

fThe Game of Wits

are the only prey of the bunco man, the swindler and the
confidence man. A city man on a farm the first time and
trying to run it, is of a greener green than a farmer in a city
buying gold bricks. Here are some games successfully
played on the dwellers in cities.

The Clever '^Sofa Game"

Of all the men who live by their wits, the English crook
who conceived and carried into successful execution the
so-called **sofa game" certainly deserves the palm. So
ingenious, so daring, and yet so simple, is this scheme that
it deserves a special description. The reader will notice that
it partakes both of the nature of a confidence game and a
first-class burglary job.

The game requires the. cooperation of several members
of a gang, one of whom must be a boy or a young man of
small stature and slender physique. Sometimes a young
woman is employed, who, if discovered, throws herself upon
the mercy of the householder. The gang first selects the
residence of some wealthy citizen. If inside information
about the silver and jewels to be looted can be secured,
so much the better. •
The habits of the
membersof the
family are closely
observed and then
at an hour when the
fewest possible peo-
ple are at home the
plan is put into
execution.

This is what
happens :

A furniture wagon
drives up to the house
and a well-dressed ^he •-sofa trick.-

62 The Right Way to Do Wrong

man of respectable appearance and plausible address rings
the front-door bell. The door is opened, the following con-
versation ensues :

•« Is this the residence of Mr. John Rahner ? "
•♦Yes, but Mr. Rahner is not at home."
« « Dear, dear, that is unfortunate 1 But, however, it does
not matter. I have been commissioned as chairman of a
committee of the Dearborn Lodge (naming some order to
-which the householder actually belongs) to present Mr. ,
K^ahner with this beautiful sofa (indicating, an imposing
piece of furniture on the wagon). Shall my men bring it in ? "
«« Why, yes, if you are sure this is the right place."
** No mistake about that. Madam ; Mr. Rahner is greatly
esteemed by the members of the lodge and this gift is to be a
complete surprise 1 "

So in the sofa is carried and deposited in a place of honor
in the drawing-room. The polite ** lodge member " depre-
ciating all thanks departs and the team drives away.

A few hours later the polite stranger reappears in hot
haste and the wagon drives up again. He is profuse in his
apologies, but an error has been made.

** So unfortunate 1 So sorry to inconvenience you, but
do you know I have made such a stupid blunder about the
address — the sofa is to go to Brother John Rahner, of
South Main Street, instead of North Main Street. Would it
be too much bother to allow my men to enter and take it
away ? We arc very anxious to deliver it before Brother
Rahner returns, as it is a surprise for him I "

Of course, there is nothing to be done but let the beautiful
sofa go, and, amid the apologies and excuses of the polite
stranger, the sofa is again carried forth to the wagon and is
driven away. The polite stranger also disappears, and, it is
needless to say, is seen no more in that part of the town.

• The next act on the program is the startling discovery that
the house has been robbed of, perhaps, many thousands of
dollars' worth of jewels and silver. How was it done ?
The explanation is very simple. The sofa is specially

i^ The Game of Wits 63

constructed with a hollow compartment of considerable size.

Inside a girl has been concealed, who, when the sofa is left

alone, quietly comes out and ransacks the place and retreats

with her plunder into this convenient hiding-place. Girl,

*. plunder, and sofa are then all carried away together and the

' • thieves make good their escape without delay.

• This is a new game, and, as I say, has been worked with

many variations and usually with success in almost every

city in England and on the continent.

Rapp : ** I look upon you, sir, as a rascal I "
Partkk: **You are privileged to look upon me in any
.character you desire to assume, sir."

**Did you ever go to a military ball?" asked a lisping
maid of an army veteran.

*< No, my dear," growled the old soldier, ** but once I had
a military ball come to me, and what do you think — it took
my arm off 1 "

\
%

SHOTTWELVE

==^<^

FAKE!FAKE:FAKE!

HERE are certain classes of men, and women,
too, who, while not actually criminal, are yet
so close to the boundary line in their practises
as to need some special mention in this book.
Take, for instance, the many so-called ** di-
vine " or mental healers, who pretend to cure
all sorts of diseases by the laying on of hands or simply
absent treatment, or the old-style patent medicine fraud who
retailed sweetened and colored water under some high-sound-
ing name, as Dn So and So's Elixir and Tonic, from the
tail-end of a cart, after having attracted a crowd of the cu-
rious with a lecture or open-air minstrel show.

"Far be if for me" to decry the actual healing and cura-
tive value of many excellent proprietary medicines and
preparations on the market to-day. But among the good
there are many that are worthless, and I should advise my
readers to take such ** remedies" only on the advice of their
family physician.

The fake ** doctor" is still with us, and his advertisements
are often to be seen in the newspapers of America. They
usually advertise under some honest-sounding name, and
assume all the titles and learned degrees of two continents.
Some are actually physicians, and, failing in the regular
practise, have set out to make a living by deluding suffering
humanity. It would be amusing, if it were not sorrowful, to
see the crowds of patients who bring their ailments to such
«* doctors.^ The game is to give the sufferer some relief at

Fakel Fakel Fake!

first, in order to encourage him, and then prolong his case
through many weary weeks and months, until they have
gotten all the money he can afford to spend. Such doctors
usually call themselves ** specialists," but their real specialty
is in exhorting money from their dupes, and my advice is to
keep as far away from them as possible.

Thanks to the energetic efforts of the authorities many, if
not all, of these practitioners have been driven out, and it is
to be hoped that such tragedies as that unearthed in the
Susan Geary case will be rare in the future.

The case of Francis Truth, alias Will Bemis, the self-
styled Divine Healer, attracted no little attention through-
out the East, especially in Boston, a few years ago. The
man was a handsome, plaus-
ible, smooth-spoken man,
who claimed to have some
mysterious mesmeric power
by which he could cure any
disease, simply by the lay-
-ing on of hands. His ad-
vertisements bristled with
testimonials and brilliant
promises, and he did a
good business among the
credulous . Many, who
doubtless had nothing what-
ever the matter with them,
were hypnotized into the
belief that they were cured.

Finally, Truth — or Be-
mis — found his money get-
ting limited, because he
could only ** treat" a limited
number a day. Then he
had recourse to the absent-
treatment dodge. He would
tell his patients that he tkb fakx hbalu

66 The Right Way to Do Wrong

'would give them an absent treatment at a certain hour,
and at that time they were to retire to their rooms and
think of him, and they would receive the healing influ-
ence I As the number of his dupes grew, he branched into
a mail-order feature, until hundreds and thousands of people
"who had never seen the ** healer" were sending him money
by mail. He received hundreds of letters each day, until
the post-office was forced to deliver them in great bags,
and his income amounted to thousands of dollars a week I
Truth lived in great style, drove about in his own carriage,
had quite an office force of stenographers and clerks to
handle the mail, and was getting rich, hand over fist, when
the post-office authorities and the police put an end to his
career.

Advertising* mediums, clairvoyants, and astrologers have
hosts of dupes, and some invite the methods of the confidence
man, with mystical advice and fortune-telling. Not long

ago, a certain Miss Ethel L , of Maiden, Mass., visited a

so-called medium in Boston. As soon as she entered his
inner sanctum she was surprised to have him caution her
about a large sum of money which she was carrying. This
<* occult'' knowledge so inspired her confidence, that she
asked his advice about a suit she was interested in. He
told her he would have to put her in a trance, which he did.
When she came out of it, he cautioned her to go directly
home, and to Aold herjtngers crossed until she reached her
own room, where she must remain for two days. It was
actually some hours before she realized that she had been
robbed of $i,ooo which she had in her pocket 1 Of course,
the medium had disappeared 1

I must say that with all its boasted culture and learning,
Boston seems to be a favorite city for all sorts of schemes of
this kind ; astrologers, mediums, clairvoyants, test-mediums,
and the like abound in the Hub as in few other places it has
been my good fortune to visit, and I have been all over the
world. Chicago also has its share.

New Yorkers pride themselves in believing in nothing at

Fake I Fake I Fakel

all, and yet it was
only a short time
ago that a man
named Ridgley,
and calling him-
self the East In-
, d i a n Mystery,
victimized many
people of wealth
and fashion in
that metropolis.
. This remarkable
person combined •
the fakir of the
East with the
modern magnetic
healer and the
Voodo doctor of
French Louisiana. The man himself is 70 years old. He
^is small, spry, alert, and wonderfully shrewd. His beard is
bushy and black, except where age has whitened the edges,
and grows thick and curly at the sides. The nose is as flat
as a negro's. He denies negro blood, however, and abhors
the race. He claim3 to be from Hindoostan, and talks to
others in the house in a strange tongue.

The eyes of the man are small, shrewd, and dark. The
forehead, from each side of which grows gray, bushy hair
that hides the ears, is high, receding, and intelligent.

** I kne\y you were coming," says this wizard-like man,
** and I determined to receive you though warned against
you. Now you want to know what I am, what I do. Let us
be honest with each other." ^ . .

He chooses big words as he proceeds to describe himself.
They are used aptly, but mispronounced. The **th" be-
comes ** d," and there are other things not unfamiliar in the
Southern negro. The East Indian proceeds to read your
character and to tell you of your life. He does it well.

•A

68 The Right Way to Do Wrong

**I am not a fortune-teller," he explains* ** They are
frauds,^ and I am a physiognomist. I read from the apex of
the nose to the top of the forehead. I don't predict ; I tell
you ; and I don't ask you to say if I am right or wrong."

It is said that among this man's patrons have been men
and women whose names are a part of the life of New York.

It is also said that a recent marriage which astonished New
York society came after the woman in the case had con-
sulted this strange combination of charlatan and physician.
She confided to him her desire, told him of her repeated
failures to secure her wish, took the treatment, and in three
months was married. Then followed, so the story goes,
many presents, among them a tenement to the East Indian.

Spiritualism has many followers, and at one time I was
almost a believer, but this was before I made a thorough in-
vestigation, which I have followed up even to the present
day. I have never seen a materialization or a manifestation
which I cannot fully explain. Of course, I cannot explain
those that I <<hear" about, as no two people see the same
one thing alike.

Spiritualism is really a beautiful belief for those that are
honest and believe in it ; but as I have visited the greatest
spiritualistic meetings in the world, I am sorry to say that no
one has ever produced anything for me that would smack of
the spiritual.

In Germany, spirit mediums are put in jail for obtaining
money under false pretences. In England, Maskenlyne, of
Maskenlyne & Cook, has done a great deal to keep the so-
called fraud spiritualistic mediums out of England. In the
future, I contemplate writing a book on spiritualistic methods,
and how they do their tricks. I do not mean genuine spiritual-
ists who have no tricks, but those mediums who use their
knowledge of magic to gain a living.

The Davenport Brothers, during their short but strenuous
career, had a terrible time of it in their journeys abroad.
They were driven out of England, but they made enough
money to last them the rest of their lives.

9cfi

J* o

SHOTTOIRTEEN

^' IH^'l'

■•''■'fr'"^\*ii*p'

BOGUS

TREASURES

-■^-.'

'4'^y^r\ TEVER believe that a so-called antique piece
'■^)}' \ I ^^ furniture or a painting by one of the old
j f^f iVi masters is genuine until its authenticity has
p^t\ \^ been proven beyond a possible doubt. That is
^s?^! my advice, and if you, reader, could see some
of the impositions practised upon wealthy
collectors and curio hunters, you, too,
would take that view.

The people who purchase this class of goods are usually
new-made millionaires, ambitious to own an art gallery of old
mafltcrs. It would ^ivc them little satisfaction to know that
some of their priceless treasures are simply copies, and often
poor ones at that. M. Felix Duquesnel, of Paris, famous as
an art critic, says that certain galleries of ancient masters
contain few pictures more than ten years old. Forged
pictures are regularly included in sales of private collections
in which they never belonged. Nor is a written and duly
attested pedigree of the least value. I know of one case in
London where a dealer in fake antiques sought out an
impoverished nobleman whose only property besides his title
was an ancient manor house that was heavily mortgaged.
The house was in a remote spot and had scarcely a stick of
furniture left in it. The dealer bought it and sent out to it
many vanloads of paintings, black oak furniture, arms,
armour, moth-eaten tapestry, etc. In a few weeks he'
announced a sale of art treasures at the ancient home of the
last of an ancient race. The sale actually lasted several

lil

The Right Way to Do Wrong

weeks as though the very
cellars bad been packed
with **art treasures."

On the continent, to my
certain knowledge, the case
is even worse. One man
that began life as a sculp-
ture's assistant, but soon
began the manufacture of
imitations of ** ancient"
statues and ** antique" fur-
niture and now makes about
$7,500 a year and employs
several workmen.

His masterpieces are cer-
tain Greek heads ** attributed
to Phidias," but he also makes
eighteenth century and Em-
pire furniture. The opinion
of such an authority is valu-
able. He says :
** You can take it as a fact that even an art expert can no
longer, tell if a piece of furniture is a forgery. At least, yes,
he can tell if he takes the furniture to pieces. But few will
dare incur that responsibility because you spoil the piece."

This cultivator of the artistic sense talks to his friends of
one of the best-known Paris collectors, who bought at an
enormous price an ** eighteenth century" writing desk:

** He purchased with a written guarantee from a respect-
able dealer, who was in good faith. Well, this table comes
from my own workroom, only if I told the owner he
probably would not believe me."

A dealer who lives not far from the church of the Madeline
in Paris keeps the choicest ** fakes" in his bedroom. He
never shows his private collection, as he calls it, until the
wealthy amateur tearfully begs to see it. The gem of the
collection is the dealer's own bed in Louis XVI. style.

THE &KDUCKD NOBLEMAN

Bogus Treasures

He has sold his bed five or
six times, but still sleeps well,
I suppose because he ** lies
so easy," like a most honor-
able Frenchman.

At this moment, eighteenth-
century engravings, including
colored prints, are counter-
feited on a vast scale.

Jewelry is made to look
old by steeping in sulphuric
acid for silver, or agua regia
for gold. The surface is
worn with ground brick. The
stones are then inserted and
the whole is greased with
'tallow and rubbed in white
soot.

Greek and Roman jewels.
Renaissance enamels, Epis-
copal rings, and Benvenuto
Cellini plate are "made in
Germany."

Vienna is specialized in
counterfeiting sixteenth-
century enamels.

Abbeville and Armiens make
for museums of geology.

Old pewters are manufactured
comes from Leeds.

In Holland, I met a student
could forge any of the old
paintings.

THE AUCTIONKXR

flint arrow-tops and hatchets

at Roden. Etruscan pottery

who was in demand as^he
masters' signatures on oil

•• *

SHQT- FOURTEEN

FAMOUS SWINDLES

^ OR years it has been a constant wonder to me
how bare-faced swindling operations are carried
on in almost open defiance of the laws of the
land. There are a thousand-and-one-get-rich-
quick schemes that each find their victims ; it is
needless to say that they bring wealth only to the
promoter. There are more ways of swindling
than with loaded dice and gold bricks.

Stock is sold in mining property where neither gold or
silver ever existed, and the only metal about the proposition

is the brazen cheek of the or-
ganizer of the company. Great
promises of dividends are
made, which are sometimes
even paid out of the money
received from the sale of the
stock. Oil wells, gold mines,
silver mines, and copper mines
are exploited in this way to
the great profit of the exploiter.
A species of swindle that has
been perpetrated times without
number all over this country is
the old gold-brick game. It
does seem as though this had
been exposed so frequently
that the most ignorant country-

THX P&OMOTBR OF '* FAKX *
SCHB1CB8

MONKY

Famous Swindles

man would know enough to keep away from any one who of-
fers to sell an ingot or ** brick" of pure gold at a sacrifice ; but
still there are pigeons to be plucked. The usual method is to
meet a likely person and with great show of secrecy unfold the
story of the poor Mexican miner who has a lump of pure gold
valued at $5,000, which he will sell for $500 do>ynI The.
pigeon comes fluttering, drawn by the tempting bait ; meets
the miner, sees the glittering brick, handles it, even tests it with
acid, and, finally, is induced to put down his good money.
With great show of secrecy and caution the brick is handled
over and the victim departs only to learn later that "all is
not gold that glitters " and that he is out his $500 1

Much ingenuity is exercised in fixing up the ** brick ** so
it will stand inspection. Sometimes even wedges of good
gold are inserted in the cheap metal, and the operator saws
or files into this wedge to take out gold for the victim to test.
In these enlightened days, I do not need to tell you that all
such stories, no matter how plausible, should be questioned
and rejected at
once.

The green-
goods swindle
is an elaborate
game which
begins with
some very
adroit corre-
spondence in
whi ch the
writer claims to
be in possession
of some old and
discarded steel
plates used in
printing United
States money,
and for that **fakx" test of gold buck

74 The Right Way to Do Wrong

reason he is able to produce actual greenbacks which will
pass anywhere. The letter usually begins something like
this:

Dear Sir: — I am in possession of a good thing and with
your confidential and friendly cooperation I can make you
independently rich and at the same time better my own con-
dition. . . . You will see that my goods are not what the
law can class as real counterfeits, inasmuch as they are
printed from genuine plates and can easily be passed in your
section of the country.

The letter goes on to explain the necessity of a personal
interview, offers to guarantee travelling expenses, and quotes
prices usually as follows: $300 real money buys $3,000;
$1,000 buys $30,000, etc. The pigeon is given a password
and tiumber with which he must sign all telegrams. Finally,
not to go into too many details, the green goods operator and
the victim meet with great secrecy — a package of real
money is produced for inspection, the purchase money is paid
over, and the package which has been deftly exchanged for
another package containing worthless paper is given to the
purchaser, who departs to learn his loss as soon as he opens
his «* bundle."

Of course, there is no redress possible. The whole game
is a swindle. Never but once to the best of my knowledge
have actual original plates been stolen from the government,
and that was when Langdon W. Moore was able to use his
influence with a gang of counterfeiters and secure the return
of the 5~20 bond plate in the early 8o's as described in
Chapter XV. of his autobiography. Even if the plates were
stolen as the green goods man pretends, the bills printed
from them by unauthorized persons would be counterfeit in
the eyes of the law.

Keep just as far away from any such scheme as you can.

pay-
ma'
lea

SHOT-nFtEEN

« e

^^^^^^^^

►^ The FAIR

I CRIMINAL

HERE have arisen in

every country, and in

every age, celebrated

women criminals whose

daring deeds have become part of history.

From Lucrezia Borgia of the fifteenth century

to Cassie Chadwick of the present day, the list
is a long one, and yet police officials and prosecuting officers
will no doubt agree with me, whenl say that there are vastly
fewer women criminals than men who lead dishonest lives.

The truth seems to be that when lovely woman stoops to
crime, she usually goes to the greatest lengths of iniquity,
and the comparatively few women who have perpetrated
great crimes are made more conspicuous and more talked
about by reason of their sex. In the United States, authori-
ties claim that only one-tenth of persons accused of crime are
women; while in France, Statistician Tarde declares that
one-sixth is the usual proportion. Women criminals are
certain to end their careers in wretchedness, if not in prison.
Mothers of wayward girls are often much to blame for the
beginning of careers of vice. A good home is the best pro-
tection, and upon every fair reader I urge the wisdom not
only of choosing for herself the better way, but of safe-
guarding her sisters everywhere.

** Sophie" Lyons may be taken as a typical case of a bom
woman criminal. She came of a race of criminals. Her
grandfather was a noted burglar in England, her father and

The Right Way to Do Wrong

mother, who came to America before she was born, both
had a criminal record. She was taught to steal as soon
as she could walk, and at twelve was arrested for shoplift-
ing. At sixteen she w^s married to Maury Harris, a pick-
|>ocket, but her husband was sentenced to two years in State
prison before the honeymoon was over. Later she married
••Ned" Lyons, the noted burglar, and became one of the
most expert female pickpockets in the country.

«« Sophie " Lyons was a beautiful girl with brilliant dark
eyes, abundant auburn hair, and a fascinating manner. At
the county fairs she would make the acquaintance of men of
wealth, and deftly relieve them of their watch or roll of bank-
notes, while they were fascinated with her blandishments.
If caught, she was a consummate actress, and could counter-
feit every shade of emotion. Real tears of injured innocence
would flow from her beautiful eyes. Lyons pulled off a big
coup about two years after their marriage, bought a villa on
Long Island with the proceeds, and, though a professional

burglar himself, tried
to keep his wife
from stealing. The
taint was too strong,
however ; she picked
pockets for the love
of it Eventually,
both husband and
wife were sentenced
to Sing Sing Prison,
from which they
make a sensational
escape and got away
to Paris. In France,
under the name of
Madame d* Varney,
she continued her
brilliant career of

THX " CONFIDXNCB QUBBN ** AT WORK

crime. Sophie

The Fair Criminal

Lyons is supposed to be at large at the present time — some-
where in America. She has one son serving a term in
State prison, and two daughters who are being carefully
educated in Germany, kept as far as possible in ignorance
of their mother's actual character.

The career of Cassie Chad wick, the ** Duchess of Dia-
monds " is of more recent date. She is a woman of about
fifty years of age, and has neither great physical beauty or
great personal charm, yet she must have had wonderful
powers of persuasion, for she victimized such men as
Andrew Carnegie, and made Banker Ira Reynolds believe
she was an illegitimate child of the Scotch millionaire. With
him she deposited a bundle of securities alleged to be worth
$5,000,000 and a note for half a million dollars bearing
Carnegie's signature. A signed paper from Reynolds at-
testing the fact that he held $5,000,000 worth of securities in
trust for her became her stock in
trade, and she fleeced bankers and
business men to the tune of one mil-
lion dollars in money, tand $150,000
worth of jewels in four years. In
March, 1905, she was convicted,
and is now serving a ten-year sen-
tence in the Ohio State penitentiary.
Thanksgiving, 1905, during my en-
gagement at Keith's Theatre, I gave
a performance for the prisoners in the
county jail in Cleveland, and Mrs.
Chadwick was to be entertained in
her cell ; but fifteen minutes before
I was to show her a few conjuring
tricks, she changed her mood, gave
the jailer an argument, and refused
to allow any one near her cell.

Of the army of women shop-
lifters, petty thieves, stool-pigeons
for confidence men^ etc., little need

'"**.. y

78 The Right Way to Do Wrong

be said. Shoplifting seems to be the most common crime.
Many women steal for mere wantonness, having no need
of the articles or money. Kleptomania is a polite word for
this offense, and, doubtless, there are cases of mental dis-
order and moral degeneracy which takes this form.

The time-worn badger game, as it is called, is still fre-
quently employed to fleece men. The confidence woman
gets acquainted with some man of means, preferably a mar-
ried man of family, and invites him to call at her apartments.
She carries on her part of the flirtation to ^^ perfection "
till suddenly the doorbell rings, and in apparent fright she
exclaims: *< There comes my husband. He is furiously
jealous and will kill you 1 "

The fictitious husband rushes in, a scene takes place, and
the ^'husband" threatens to shoot or call in the police.
Eventually, the matter is settled by the victim giving up a
large sum of money rather than face a scandal. This is
only one form of blackmail resorted to, to extort money,
as the victim is often threatened with public expose, etc.
Pirates in petticoats frequently ply their trade on ocean
and lake steamers. They are well-dressed and ingratiate
themselves with the passengers of both sexes, watching their
opportunity to steal jewelry, or practise their threadbare
confidence games.

A woman named Grace Mordaunt cleared many thousands
of dollars in New York by occasionally advertising the fol-
lowing personal in the Herald: ** Young widow, financially
embarrassed wishes loan of $ioo on a diamond ring worth
twice as much. Address Box ."

Miss Mordaunt was beautiful and fascinating. She would
produce a genuine diamond ring, and go with her victim to
a jeweler to have it priced. At his office she would receive
her money, and ask him with tears not to wear or show her
ring for a few days, but lock it up in his safe. She then
takes the ring, wraps it up in tissue paper, puts it in an
envelope, and hands it sealed to the victim, and leaves, prom-
ising to repay the money with interest in a few days. She

The Fair Criminal 79

never returns, and at length the victim opens the envelope to
find a brass ring with a glass diamond worth about 25 cents.
While in Austria some years ago, I heard of a most re-
markable adventuress who went under the name of Madame
Clarice B Her particular form of swindle was to get

acquainted with young men of good family and wealth,
and entangle them in her meshes, and get declarations of
marriage from them. She would get all she could out of
her poor dupe, and then notify the family of the **engage-

^ ment." The young man's parents would then be forced to

buy her off with a large sum of money, when she would go
to pastures new. But Madame Clarice met her Waterloo in
Vienna. There she met an American student upon whom
she. worked her wiles even to the extent of going through a
marriage ceremony with him. After a time she left him and
went to Paris, but the adventuress who had broken so many
hearts found her own touched at last. She was actually in
love with her student husband whose face haunted her
dreams. After a few days 'she returned to Vienna, sought

4 him out, and confessed all, but through herself on his mercy

and love. The denouncement, unusual in such cases, was
that the couple were actually married, and to-day are living
happily on the continent.

Many, many more incidents migjit be related of the clever
work of the f acinating woman criminal, but these should be
sufficient to warn the unwary against trusting either their
honor or their pocketbook to an unknown woman no matter
how beautiful.

*' V tp tp

Teacher (instructing prisoner class on manners) : " Now,
^ Willie Brown, for example, if you were sitting in an electric

car, every seat occupied, and an old lady enters, what would
you do?"

Tommy: ** Please, sir, I would pretend I was sleepin'.

<•

SHOT SIXTEEN

The "BRACE"
GAME

F all classes of criminals the professional
gambler has probably played the most con-
spicuous part in fiction and melodrama. We
all know the stage gambler, while the penny
dreadful novels and story-books are too
often filled with descriptions of this kind of
crime. The gambler of the stage and in
the novel is but an exaggerated portrait of this type.

Gambling is the playing for money of games depending
solely on chance, like roulette; or games of skill and
chance like poker and other card games or billiards and the
like. A gentleman may have the moral right to back his
own opinion in a wager with money, and with true sports-
man instinct stand success or defeat. Even a small stake at
cards is dangerous, for it cultivates the habit of gambling,
which may soon become a passion.

Gambling in itself is bad enough even when the game
is square; but your professional gambler never plays the
game that way. He is an expert with cards. His seem-
ingly innocent shufile of the pack gives him a full knowledge
of where every card is located. He deals you a hand good
enough to induce you to make dangerously high bets, but not
high enough to win. He lures his victim by small winnings
to destruction in the end. He uses cards so cleverly marked
on the back that he can read the values of your hand as well
as if he were looking over your shoulder, and govern his
play accordingly. In faro and roulette he uses mechanical
devices for controlling absolutely the winning numbers,

The «« Brace " Game 8i

and so cheats his victim from beginning to end. When a

gambler employs a fraudulent deck of cards or a cheating-

roulette wheel or faro-box it is called a "brace** game.

No novice can go up against a brace game

with any hope of winning; he must lose.

Even if the game were on the square the

victim will invariably lose in the long run,

for the percentage of chance is against him. ^ ..brace" spindle

If the exposures, which I feel at liberty to

make in this chapter, may warn the unwary and deter the

youth of this land from the fascinations of the green cloth,

I shall feel that my efforts have not been in vain.

Marked cards employed by gamblers are specially en-
graved packs of cards in which the usual decoration design
of scrolls and flowers on the back, instead of being exactly
identical on the fifty-two cards, is varied slightly for each
of the high cards. This would not be noticed and cannot
be detected without close examinatioti, but it renders the
back of the cards as legible to the gambler as the face. The
turn of a leaf in the scroll work may mean that that card is
the ace of diamonds, while a slightly different turn may
mean the ace of hearts and so on.

With such a pack of cards the gambler has the poor
dupe at his mercy. ** Long cards" and strippers, as they
are called, are special packs in which the high cards are
slightly different in shape and width, enabling the gambler,
for instance, with a single motion to take three of the aces
out of a pack.

The hold out, as it is called, is a mechanical contrivance
used for holding a card fraudulently withdrawn from the
pack until it is wanted. The hold out, illustrated in this
chapter, I purchased from a notorious gambler who has now
retired, and perfected it for use in certain card tricks. I
have found, however, that certain professional gamblers
have got hold of it, and I shall therefore expose its opera-
tions so that the unwary may be warned. The machine is
adjusted to the arm inside the coat sleeve. The mechanism is

The Right Way to Do Wrong

THB AKM AND CHEST *<HOLD OUT"

worked by a band passing
around the chest. By tak-
ing a long breath the ma-
chine is made to move
and pushes its mechanical
fingers down inside the
sleeve to the hand. As
the breath is exhaled the
••fingers" go back in the
sleeve, taking with them
the card or cards the
gambler wishes to hold out. The same operation causes the
cards to be returned to the hand. It is as though the gamb-
ler were gifted with a third and invisible arm and hand ; it
cannot be detected in operation.

Other hold outs are attached under the table. One called
the "Goose neck" is brazenly advertised in a certain cata-
logue I have on my desk as I write, and the price is $15.
This, I quote from the catalogue, ** is worked by the knee
or foot, making the cards come up over the edges of the
table into the hand." A *• vest hold out" is made and sold,
vest and all, for $30; and a new •• cold deck" hold out for
substituting an entirely different pack of cards which has
been previously stacked for $35. Concerning this latter
contrivance, the manufacturer says: ''Made to hold a full
deck. Cards can be arranged to suit you, and when oppor-
tunity presents itself make the switch and you can clean up
everything in sight."

A mere list of the fraudulent contrivances for cheating
at gambling should be sufficient to prevent any honest man
from ever going up against a gambler's game. The Lucus
spindle, as it is called, is apparently a very simple contriv-
ance which the novice thinks must cer-
tainly be on the square. As a matter of
fact, it is fraudulent and made with that
intention. Its makers claim that it can the " squkkzk "
actually be handed to an officer for exami- spindle

The «« Brace'* Game

I "'V^'iA

A CHEATING DBVICK

nation without detection. The old «« Sim-
plicity Squeeze Spindle** works on a
different principle, but is just as effective.
It is under control of the gambler and can
be stopped on whatever figure will win him
the most money. The ** High Man Wins"
arrow is for use in barrooms and is a
brace game, the house being a large
winner.

One of the most malicious little devices
I have ever run across is sometimes called a vest-pock rou-
lette wheel. It would seem that this must be square and that
the player would have even a greater chance to win than on
an ordinary wheel because there is only one zero. . As a
matter of fact, however, it is a fraud pure and simple, as the
mechanism is so arranged that the pointer will stop on zero
three times when it will stop on any other number once I So
beware of the man with a little Monte Carlo in his pocket.

Among other things used by professional gamblers to
cheat with are loaded dice which may be bought or made
to order ; adhesive palming cloth for palming Cards, chips,
dice, etc. ; adhesive dice which almost defy detection ;
shaped dice which are not exact cubes; *• brace" dice
boxes; magnifying mirrors set in rings; shading lx>xes
made to sew on inside of coat and used to shade or mark
cards while the game is in progress; marked decks of
cards, ring hold outs, bouncers for roulette wheels, cement
for plugging dice, silver amalgam for
loading dice, ••brace" faro boxes, etc., etc.
With such an equipment, united with
years of experience and skill, what chance
has any law-abiding citizen against the pro-
fessional gambler? The reader does not
need my secret of escaping from hand-
cuffs to shake off the shackles of this
alluring siren gambling. pockkt roulxttx

SHOT -SEVENTEEN

CHEATING
UNCLE SAM

NDER this heading I shall group such crimes
as counterfeiting and the kindred crimes of
forgery and raising notes, as well as smuggling.
It is a serious matter to get into trouble with the
Federal government. The criminal is pursued
relentlessly, and the sentence when conviction
follows the almost certain arrest is always a
heavy one. For these reasons such crimes are usually
attempted only by the boldest and most skilful criminals or
by those whose positions of trust in government employ afford
them special opportunities.

The three great crimes against any government (aside, of
course, from actual
treason) are coun-
terfeiting its money,
either gold, silver, or
bills ; evading its
custom laws, or
smuggling. Coun-
terfeiting, which
offers enormous re-
wards if successful,
is frequently at-
tempted — indeed,
scarcely a month
passes that does not
see the appearance
of some new and thk fokgsr at work

Cheating Uncle Sam

dangerous counterfeit of some United States bill. Notice is .
at once sent to all the banks by the authorities and often
published in the newspapers, so that the public at large may
be warned against the spurious bill in circulation.

Many years ago, when the art of engraving and plate
making was in its infancy, the paper money in circulation
was much more crude than to-day. Then it was compara-
tively easy for the counterfeiter to engrave just as good a
bill as the government could produce ; but now the matter is
much more difficult, owing to the delicate and intricate work
of the lathe and tool work and the special fibre paper upon
which it is printed. The conditions of caution surrounding
the government printing works make it almost impossible for
an original plate to be stolen. The paper is made especially
for this purpose and under strictest government supervision.
In designing, lettering, and engraving the
bills only artists of the foremost professional
standing are employed. Every banknote
or greenback is truly a work of art, so that
an exact counterfeit — one that will deceive
even an ordinary business man accustomed
to handle money — is each year more and
more difficult to produce.

The counterfeits of silver and gold
coins are mostly of two kinds — either
moulded or stamped with a die. The die-
made counterfeits are usually much more
difficult to detect if the metal employed
has anywhere near the right weight, ring,
and color. Electroplating is employed by
counterfeiters with some success; one
dangerous counterfeit now in circulation is
a compound of antimony and lead heavily
electroplated with silver. In this way the
gold ten-dollar piece of 1858 and the gold
five-dollar pieces of 1847, 1848, 1862, and
1869 have been counterfeited with a platinum

86 The Right Way to Do Wrong

coin heavily gold plated. The most successful and, there-
fore, the most dangerous of all counterfeits are those
composed of actual gold and silver but with a mixture of
metal. The actual value of the gold in the counterfeit five-
dollar gold pieces dated 1881 and 1882 has been determined
by assay to be $4.43.

Genuine gold and silver coins are often tampered with.
These schemes are known as "sweating," "plugging," and
** filling." For instance, a hundred gold ten-dollar pieces
subject to an acid bath would lose' perhaps $35 or $40 worth
of their gold and remain unchanged in appearance. The
coins are put in circulation again, and the gold which has
been ** sweated " off of them is easily extracted from the acid
bath and sold. Coins are also robbed of precious metal by
drilling a hole, the cavity being filled with an alloy and the
filling covered with a light gold wash. Filling a coin is
sawing it through the edge in two parts, scraping out the
gold, and putting the two parts together again filled with some
baser metal. Thomas Ballard was the first counterfeiter to
successfully reproduce government fibre paper, which he did
in 1870. The next year he and his gang were captured, but
escaped from jail and found a hiding-place from which they
continued to issue dangerous counterfeits. In 1873 his
counterfeit $500 treasury note alarmed banks and government
ofiicials. Ballard was finally captured in his lair in Buffalo
just as he was about to produce a counterfeit $5 bill of a
Canadian bank. This bill, he boasted, was to have corrupted
all Canada.

John Peter McCartney was the counterfeiter who success-
fully removed all the ink from genuine $1 bills so that he
could secure government paper on which to print counterfeit
bills of much higher denomination. He made a fortune, so
it is said, but was brought to book at last.

To a counterfeiter named *• One-eyed Thompson " is given
the credit of being the first to transform bills of small denom-
ination to larger by cutting and pasting. He also had an
ingenious trick of cutting up $10 or $100 bills into strips and

Cheating Uncle Sam 87

making eleven counterfeit bills of the
same denomination.

A German by the name of Charles
Ulrich won the distinction of having
produced the most dangerous Bank of

j England notes ever made.

• Langdon W. Moore, one time expert
bank robber, forger, and counterfeiter,

• who has now reformed and is leading

► an honest life, has written an interesting autobiography in

which he tells of his own experience in raising notes, counter-
feiting, and getting the counterfeits in circulation. At one
time another gang of counterfeiters declared war on him.
He sent a spy into the enemy's' camp, learned where they
were going to put out their next batch of ** queer," and then

,i^ proceeded to carry out a plan for outwitting them.

Postage stamp counterfeits are common enough, but mostly
1 practised to impose on the collectors of rare stamps: for

instance, a certain issue of Hawaiian stamps are very valu-
. able as there are not supposed to be more than half a dozen
or so in existence, and when one is found it sells for thousands
of dollars. One of the most daring stamp counterfeiters
** planted " about twenty forgeries of this rare stamp into
collections of wealthy philatelists and realized many thousands
of dollars.

Another daring gang introduced a beautifully-engraved
stamp into Paris by posing as the "King of Sodang" and
suite — Sodang being an island that existed solely in the
imagination of the clever swindler. A stamp dealer was the
principal victim and paid the ''king" a large sum of money
for a number of the stamps of this fictitious kingdom.

Speaking of stamps recalls a method, of secret writing
which defied detection. The plan was to put a fake letter
inside the envelope, but to write the real message in micro-
scopic characters in the upper right-hand comer, and over
this paste the stamp. The correspondent, who was, of
course, in the secret, would simply soak off the stamp.

The Right Way to Do Wrong

"^A^

^«»^c^

A PRISONKR'8 BKCRET UKSSAGB

This trick is often
made use of by con-
victs who wish to send
a secret message to
their friends on the
outside.

Cancelled postage
stamps are frequently
washed and sold^ or
used again. I have in
my possession a receipt
given me by a Russian
convict which will do
this perfectly, removing every trace of the cancellation mark,
but leaving the stamp perfect. Such a secret is too dan-
gerous, however, for general publication.

On the continent I have known of a clever dodge being
practised which reaches the same result. Before the letter
is mailed the stamp is covered with a transparent paste.
When the letter is received the correspondent can simply
wash off the stamp with water, and, of course, the cancella-
tion marks with it. The penalty for this crime is so severe,
and the reward so small, that not even hardened criminals
are willing to risk the attempt.

A clever gang of smugglers adopted this ruse in order to
get their trunks through the custom-house free. They had
counterfeit labels made, such as an inspector places upon a
trunk. Passing among the trunks where the inspectors
were at work they would slyly poke the ** inspected" label
on all their own trunks. Each official seeing the labels
would suppose some other official had actually inspected the
trunks and so would pass on to others.

' Instances might be multiplied, but all goes to show that
dishonesty, whether to your fellowmen or to the government,
is the worst of all policies in the end.

SHOT Eighteen

HUMBUG or a hoax is often comparatively
harmless in its nature — more in the way of
a high practical joke upon the public. Long
ago P. T. Barnum, the great American show-
man, declared : ** The American people want
to be humbugged." I believe he was right
and certainly his great success in the show
business would seem to point to the same conclusion. In
my own particular work I find there is so much that is mar-
vellous and wonderful that can be accomplished by perfectly
natural means that I have no need to find recourse to hum-
bugging the public. In my case, at least, truth is stranger
than fiction.

At the present day a firm in New York makes a business
of manufacturing fakes like double-bodied babies, mermaids,
and fake mummies. Dr. L. D. Weiss, of New York, dis-
covered that he could detect a fake mummy from an original
by placing it under his X-Ray machine.

Another clever hoax which created much amusement at
the time was contrived by some English students years ago
and perpetrated at a county fair. On a vacant lot near the
fair a large tent was erected and a huge placard announced
that** The Great Wusser'* was on exhibition within — ad-
mission free I It was supposed, that some payment or pur-
chase would be required inside, but it was not so. The
crowd, eager for free amusement, was formed into a long
** queue," and the people — admitted only one at a time— .

«9

The Right Way to Do Wrong

0^^^^

THJE GUEAT WUSSER

were escorted through a
maze of hurdles into a
darkened compartment of
the tent before a curtain.
There they were entreated
not to irritate or disturb the
** animal " in any way, and
the curtain went up, dis-
closing a sorry and spav-
ined looking donkey.
** This is the great Wusser," explained the showman.
And when the bewildered spectator asked what it meant, he
was told that, ** though you may have seen as bad a donkey,
you certainly never saw a wusser 1 " Then, when the victim
of the hoax became indignant, he was besought to ** keep it
quiet " and take his revenge by allowing the remainder of
the crowd to be hoaxed. This request showed a deep knowl-
edge of human nature, for the victim always complied, and
many went among the crowd and spread the most astonish-
ing accounts of the •• Great Wusser," and waited to see their
comrades taken in. Eventually, however, rioting arose, and
the jesters, being arrested for creating a disturbance, had to
pay over $ioo in fines and damages.

But humbugs are not all so harmless. An adroit rascal
was caught not long ago in London who was posing as an
American bishop. He was certainly a great humbug, for
he looked the part of the ** bishop " to perfection. It seems
that he called in his carriage, mind you, at a well-known
jewelers and asked to see some bracelets, mentioning that he
was returning to America and wished to take a present to his
wife. *• Nothing very expensive," he said — ** I could i^ot
afford that — but something about seventy or eighty pounds."
Eventually, he agreed to take a bracelet that cost one hun-
dred pounds. He said he would pay for it with a hundred
pound note which he had with him. It was the only money
he had with him at the moment, but he would wait while
they sent it to the bank to ascertain that it was all right. He

Humbugs

THE "BISHOP'

should really prefer doing this. They sent it to the bank and
received answer that it was perfectly correct.

Having paid for his bracelet the bishop took it and was
just about to step into his carriage when
a policeman tapped him on the shoulder,
and said, <*Hellow Jiml You're up
to your old tricks again, are you? You
just come along with me ; " and he took
him back into the shop.

The jeweler said there was some
mistake, that the gentleman was an
American bishop, that he had bought a
bracelet, and paid for it with an excellent
note.

**Just let me look at the note, will
you? "said the policeman. He looked
at it, and said, ** yes, it's just as I thought.
This note is one of a particularly clever
batch of forgeries which are very diffi-
cult to detect, and the man is no more a bishop than you are.
We will go off to the police station at once. I will take the
note and go on with the prisoner in advance, and you must
send your salesman to me and meet us and bear witness.**
So the policeman took the bishop and the bracelet and the
note, but when the jeweler's man reached the police station
they had not arrived, and they have never been heard of
since I

Ki? \C|>

Warden to new arrival, who happens to be enjoying the
name of Moses Ikenstein :

** Well, Mr. Ikenstein, as this is your first visit it is our
rule to always allow prisoners to select their own workshop,
and if you will tell me what your trade or profession is will
put you in that branch of employment."

Ikenstein: **Is that so? Well, I am a traveling sales-
man."

SHQT:NINE1HN

...v^r.^

HOUDINI

' OW does he do it ? That is the usual ques-
tion I hear asked about my work in the theater.
No, dear reader, it is not my purpose to tell
,you how I open locks, how I escape from a
prison cell into which I have been locked, hav-
ing previously been stripped naked and man-
acled with heavy irons. I do not intend to
tell you in this book how I escape from the trunk or the
tightly corded and nailed-up box in which I have been con-
fined, or how I unlock any regulation handcuff that can be
produced — not yet.

Some day I may tell all this, and then you will know.
At present, I prefer that all who see me should draw their
own conclusions. But exactly how I accomplish these
things I shall still leave you to guess, gentle reader. I
should not want you to go into the show business. It's a
hard life, *• so they say."

**Have you ever been stuck at it?" I think I hear you
ask. Not yet. I have had some pretty close calls, but
have always pulled through somehow. The nearest I ever
came to giving in was during my engagement at Black-
bourne, England. There I offered a prize to the man who
could fasten me in such a way that I could not escape.
One man accepted my challenge. He was an instructor in
athletics, and was out for blood. He evidently looked upon
my challenge as a personal affront to him. At any rate, he
started in to shackle me.

He first handcuffed my hands in front, then locked elbow

Houdini 93

irons, the chain of which went behind my back. Then he
handcuffed my legs, and after this bent me backward and
chained my back and feet together. I had to kneel down.
Every chain and handcuff was fitted to the limit. I started
in, but at the end of an hour I suffered so under the strain
that I asked to be let out. My back was aching, my circu-
lation was stopped in my wrists, and my arms became
paralyzed. My opponent's only reply was, ** This is a bet.
Cry quits or keep on."

The Music Hall where I was playing was packed, and
while watching me became fairly wild. I kept on, but
I was only about half conscious. Every joint in my body
was aching, and I had but little use of my arms. I asked as
a favor that he free my hands long enough for the circular
tion to start again, but he only laughed and exclaimed, *« This
is no love affair, this is a contest. Say you are defeated and
ru release you."

I gritted my teeth and went at it once more. For two
hours and a half I exerted myself, fighting for my professional
good name. In the meanwhile, the audience was cheering
itself hoarse. Some cried *« Give it up," and others,
<« Keep on, you'll do it." I don't believe any such scene was
ever acted in a theater. The house was crazy with excite-
ment, and I was covered with blood brought on by my
exertion to release myself and chaffing irons. But I did it.
I got free of every chain and handcuff. Then they had to
carry me off the stage, and I suffered from the effects for
months afterwards.

As for the prison cell, I have never been locked in one
I could not open. I have had the honor of making my
escape from securely locked cells in jails, prisons, and police
stations in almost every large city in the world, and under
the most rigid conditions. The chiefs of police, the
wardens, the jailers, the detectives, and citizens who have
been present at these tests know that they are real and
actual. Perhaps the most historic American feat that gained
for me the most notoriety was my escape January, 1906,

94 The Right Way to Do Wrong -*

from Cell 2, Murderers' Row, in the United States Jail at
Washington, D. C. ; from the very cell in which Guiteau,
the assassin of President Garfield, was confined until he was
led forth to be hanged. Since my return from abroad,
October, 1905, 1 have escaped after being locked up in a nude |

state from cells in New York City, Brooklyn, Detroit,
Rochester, Buffalo, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, ^

Providence, and City Tombs in Boston and Lowell. In all |,

cases I submitted to a close search, being stark naked and \'

heavily manacled into the cell, which was also thoroughly ^3

searched.

I am an American by birth, born in Appleton, Wis.,
U. S. A., on April 6, 1873. To my lot has fallen more /^

experiences, more strange adventures, more ups^ and downs, y

in my thirty-three years of life than to most men.

When about nine years of age my mother, to whom I am r^'^

greatly attached, apprenticed me to a mechanic to learn that ^^M

trade ; but, after an uneventful term with the tools of the trade,
I resolved to see the world with my own eager eyes. • So I
ran away from home, and in this way made an early
acquaintance with the corrugated side of life.

I joined a small circus, and soon learned to conduct the
Punch and Judy show, to do a ventriloquial act, and to play
town clown on the bars — ** gol darn it." I also doubled in
brass — that is, I beat the cymbals. I here gained the
experiences that possibly ripened me into the world's Hand-
cuff King and Prison Breaker — a title which I have justly
earned.

But there was a time when I was not recognized as I am j

now. Those were the days of small things. That was in ^

the middle West. After that, London and an engagement at *\

the Alhambra. After that, everywhere on the continent and I

all over America. I have not yet been to Australia. I do
not wish to be so far away from my mother.

While touring Germany I brought suit against the police

' -^

Houdini

95 ♦

and a newspaper because they said
my act was not genuine. I won the
case — to have lost it would have
meant ruin.

Again, in Russia, I was bound
by the officials of the spy police
and locked in a Siberian transport
cell. Had I failed to escape-, I
would have been compelled to jour-
ney to Siberia, as the key that locks
these cells does not open them. The
governor-general in Siberia has the
only key to open them. I was out
in twenty minutes.

If there were more room in this
book I would like to tell you of
the many places in which I have
played, both in America and
Europe. I have many certificates
from police officials. I was almost
too busy to write this book, although
I have been collecting the material
for a long time. But now I am
pleased it is written, and trust it may please you. I be-
lieve that the reading of this book will so familiarize the
public with the methods of the criminal classes that it will
enable law-abiding citizens to protect themselves from the
snares of the evil-doer.

I hope it will warn you away from crime and all evil-
doing. It may tell the ** Right Way to Do Wrong," but, as
I said in the beginning, all I have to say is ** Don't."

Medal illustrated is the result of my winning the contest
from the H. Siegel Company, expert packers. And Mr. B. F.
Keith, by the way^ also presented me with a most magnificent
and costly Tiffany timepiece during -my engagement in
Boston.

Sincerely yours,

HARRY HOUDINI.

SHOT TWENTY

CONCLUSION

CERTAIN fascination without doubt lingers
about crime and the methods of criminals.
Much of this fascination, and, consequently,
much of the temptation to do wrong, arises
from ignorance of the subject — ignorance of
the mean, sordid life and the disgrace and
.punishment which are the certain result of a
career of crime. " ' ' '

The wayward youth sees only the advantage to be gained
by unlawful acts. He does not see the years of ignominy,
the furtive hiding from. the law, the shame of not being able
to look his fellow-man in the face — no, nor the inevitable
arrest, conviction, and punishment which ends it all in ninety-
nine cases out of every one hundred.

In this book I have told of the methods of criminals, and
held them up to your gaze, not as heroes, but as malefactors ;
not as examples to be emulated, but as corruptions to be
shunned, as you ^ would shun a plague.

To the best of my belief , this book, if you read it rightly,
is a sermon more powerful against wrong-doing than many
that are preached from the pulpit. It is my hope and wish
that it may carry, this warning into the hearts of thou-
sands of young men. Then shall my labor not have been
lost

TTie boiTDwer must letum this item on or befoie
the last date stamped below. If another user
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the borrower from overdue fines.

Harvard College Wideaer Library
Cambridge, MA 02138 617-495-2413

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